Make Me Wanna Die
by Riana Salvatore
Summary: Margaret "Mary" Gilbert is not the golden child of her family, that would be her sister, Elena. She does however find herself at the center of a supernatural secret that has been around for over a century and catches the eye of a green-eyed vampire. Check out the sequel Some Nights
1. Pilot

I'm the girl that you don't see in the hallway. Well maybe you do see me but then you look away. Some people might say that I look pretty with natural-blonde hair that was a family trait as my aunt and had it but not my parents, and blue eyes. What I see is a girl who is too short to be beautiful, but I don't really have body issues of self-loathing issues. No, my issues can be drawn to a simpler solution. They deal with the death of my parents in a car wreck this past spring. I was outside with a bottle in my hand. It was the first day of school and I hated being here. The only thing I wanted to do was be with my boyfriend, but him being a year older than me made that unlikely. My name is Margaret Gilbert, though I prefer to go by Mary.

I finally headed into the school. I wanted to go the bathroom and use some eye drops to get rid of the look. I had perfected walking with a buzz after much practice. With any luck, none of my teachers would notice. I did have a bit of a stagger to my step, but it was limited enough to get back. I began putting the drops in.

"Unbelievable." My sister Elena interrupted. "It's the first day of school and you're already wasted."

"No, I'm not." I argued. "You just need to chill yourself already."

"Chill myself?" Elena challenged. "You're so drunk that you can't form coherent sentences. I bet you feel so good right now."

"I'm not drunk." I shouted. "Just leave me alone."

"People are going to stop giving your breaks, Mary." She told me. "They don't really care that we lost our parents anymore."

"I don't need this." I told her. "I have to get to class. So get out of my way."

I walked out and I immediately collided with a guy. Since he was much bigger than me, I was knocked to the ground. He held his hand out to help me up. I didn't grab it and got up myself.

"You're in my way." I told him, smelling alcohol on my breath.

"Are you drunk?" He asked me.

"Not you too, you don't even know me." I pointed out. He was kind of cute. It was too bad that I wasn't single. "Please get out of my way."

He obediently moved. He probably thought right now that I was a huge bitch. I began to wonder if I should even go to class. The teachers really weren't teaching anything that I didn't already know. This school really wasn't all that challenging to me. I could easily get straight As if I gave a damn. I wouldn't even need to be sober to do it. Hemmingway wrote pretty much all of his books while he was drunk and he is one of the greatest writers who ever lived. I could do it too.

By the end of the day, my buzz was wearing off. I decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I wasn't entirely sure what Tyler was doing, but he said that he couldn't hang out with me. The worst thing about him wasn't that he was kind of a dick, but that he was the mayor's son.

Suddenly, I saw this crow and a fog began to form around my feet. It was a bit creepy. In fact it was very creepy. I decided that it would be a good idea for me to run, but I fell on the ground. I looked up and saw the same guy from the bathroom. I couldn't help but notice that I was near the old cemetery by Fell's Church where my parents happened to be buried.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"What are you doing here? Were you following me?" I responded as I stood up.

"No, but I saw you fall." He answered.

"And you just happened to be chilling in the woods." I quipped.

"I was visiting someone." He stated. Of course, we were near a cemetery.

"Wow, you probably think that I'm a bigger bitch than before." I commented. At that point, he reached over and I wondered what the hell he was doing, but then he pulled a twig out of my hair. I smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."

I then realized that I hadn't bothered to introduce myself earlier. He seemed like he was waiting for me to do it.

"I'm Margaret, but everyone calls me Mary." I stated.

"Stefan." He reciprocated. He then looked at me kind of funny. "Did you hurt yourself?"

I then pulled up my sleeve and noticed that my elbow was bleeding.

"Whoa, that is fucking disgusting." I remarked.

"You should probably go treat it." He replied. Before I could even respond, I noticed that he was gone. I then figured he was one of those wimps that loses it around blood. It didn't really matter anyway because I was spoken for.

I went home and put a Band-Aid on my elbow before I realized that I needed some more to drink. There wasn't any in the house because my aunt Jenna seemed to be catching onto me. It was then that I realized that I had left without my purse, which meant no fake ID. That meant that there was only one place I could go.

I headed to the local restaurant, the Mystic Grill. It wasn't creative, but there was a waitress that I knew that would mix liquor into my drinks. I also happened to notice that Tyler was there and took a seat next to him. He immediately gave me a sloppy kiss.

"So do you have anything for me to drink?" I asked him.

"I can get something and you should probably eat something too." He suggested.

"Well you're going to have to pay because I lost my purse." I declared. "I was running from this weird bird and when I got home, I realized that it was gone."

"Okay, I've got it covered." He remarked. "You'll probably want to cancel your credit card when you get home though."

Within the next minutes, Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes, Elena's friends and Matt Donovan, Tyler's best friend and Elena's ex arrived. He was also the brother of my supplier. Not long after did Elena walk in…with Stefan. I wasn't aware that they knew each other. He then began to walk toward me.

"Mary, I was hoping that you'd be here because I needed to give this to you." He stated before he reached into his bag and gave me purse, still zipped up. "Don't worry, I didn't take anything from it. I didn't even open it."

"Thanks." I told him. I couldn't help but wonder why he had been so polite about it. "Stefan, this is my boyfriend, Tyler."

They briefly shook hands before Stefan went to sit with Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie. I guess it would be more fitting for him to date her. She did just get out of a relationship with Matt.

"That new guy is weird." Tyler told me. "Why did he even have your bag?"

"Because he was there earlier when I lost it." I answered. "I checked and everything was there. He was just being nice. It's something that you might wanna try sometime."

"Well he better not get too nice with you." Tyler remarked.

"You know that he's over there flirting with my sister right now." I pointed out. "I don't think he'll be a problem. So let's talk about the bonfire tomorrow night. It's going to be awesome. There will be all of the beer that we want with absolutely no adult supervision. It's the perfect place to get wasted."

"It's also a good place to get freaky." Tyler replied. I just looked at him. "Don't tell me that you never wanted to have sex in the woods."

"No, I haven't because I'm a normal person." I pointed out.

"Normal people don't drink like you do." He argued.

"I'm still not going to let you fuck me in the woods." I told him. "I just want to have a good time and maybe after we're done, I'll do it with you in a bed."

"I'm gonna say that there isn't a very good chance of that happening, Ty." Vicki remarked as she passed by.

The following night, I headed to the Falls that our town got its name from where I met Tyler. Elena would be there and for once, she wouldn't judge me for drinking because she would be doing it too. I wanted to not be able to see straight. I began to guzzle from the bottle. For once, I actually felt good. I guess I was just glad to be at a party for a change. It was somewhere that people wouldn't give me sympathetic looks and we could all just focus on having fun.

Later in the night, I went out into the woods because I saw Tyler walking out. I saw him with Vicki against a tree, getting busy. I walked over angrily, wanting to break it up.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I asked angrily.

"It's not what it looks like." Vicki declared. Tyler took the opportunity to leave. "I told him no but he wouldn't stop."

"You're lying." I responded. "You know what fuck both of you. I thought you were my friend, but I guess I was wrong. I'll find someone else to get my drinks from."

"I walked out of the woods crying before I grabbed another drink. I don't know if anyone even noticed that I was upset. Well, one person did.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked me. It just had to be him.

"I don't want to talk about it." I declared.

"Maybe talking about it will help you feel better." He suggested.

"Fine, I just caught my bastard of a boyfriend cheating on me with one of my friends." I told him. "My life is screwed up. I did way too much, my parents are dead and now I don't even have Tyler anymore. No one seems to care about me."

"Your sister does." He offered.

"My sister just wants to judge me." I argued. "I don't expect you to understand."

"You could tell me?" He offered.

"Okay, last spring my parents died. They drowned in the lake." I explained. "Elena must not have been wearing her seatbelt, because she was ejected and survived. Now we're left with our aunt that doesn't have a clue what she's doing and I drink and she spends her time writing in the cemetery. We're both damaged goods and now the one good thing in my life is gone."

"You're not going to be sad forever, Mary." He told me. I guess it was nice of him to say. He probably wouldn't want me, but I guess that I was single right now. I looked around the party and saw Tyler, but I didn't see Vicki. That was strange. If what she said was true, she didn't do anything wrong.

"I have to go find someone." I declared.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Stefan asked me. "I could go with you."

"No, I have Mace." I told him before I walked into the woods. It wasn't long after that I noticed Elena was following me. I guess even when she's drunk, she judges me.

"Mary, stop and come back to the party." She ordered. "It's not safe out here."

I continued walking before I tripped over something.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she ran over to me. I looked at what I tripped over and it was a body. I then noticed that it wasn't just any body, it was Vicki.

"Oh my God, Vicki." I remarked. I was mad at her but I didn't want her to die. "Is she dead?"

"Check her pulse." Elena instructed. I went to do so before she suddenly gasped for air before passing out again. I grabbed her torso and Elena grabbed her legs as we carried her back to the party.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Elena screamed.

A crowd quickly formed before we set her down on a table. The ambulance arrived pretty quickly along with the police and animal control. I guess that made sense considering the bite marks on her neck. I mean it had to be an animal. I took a seat away from everyone with a bottle. I was pretty sure that Elena had called Jenna to pick us up since we had both walked here and didn't otherwise have a ride.

"You know those guys in blue are the cops." Elena quipped. I chugged the bottle and then chucked it. "People are going to stop giving you breaks. We need to move on already."

"You write in the cemetery alone. That's not what I call moving on." I pointed out.

"Mom and Dad wouldn't have wanted this from us." Elena stated. I don't think that the dead could want anything. Though, I would bet that they would be disappointed if they saw us right now.

Jenna drove us home and I noticed that it was only 10:00. Nevertheless, I did feel sleepy, probably from all of the booze that I drank. I went to my room and began to change for bed. I was pretty sure that Jenna wasn't surprised that we were drunk. She was partying not that long ago. I couldn't help but wonder why she ended up getting custody of us instead of our uncle John. While he had never had kids either, he was definitely more responsible. I didn't even know where he was, but it didn't even really matter.

I wore a tank top and my panties to bed. I looked outside my window and noticed that Stefan was outside. I decided to put a robe on and answered the door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I know that it's late but I just wanted to know if you're okay." He declared.

"You know that has to be my least favorite question in the world." I explained. "It's all that I've been hearing since May."

Well I'm sorry for asking you." He apologized. How was this guy so polite? "I suppose the answer wasn't something that you enjoyed either."

"Well it started out nice, but then I just let the sarcasm take over." I told him. "The answers would be something like 'Does it look like I'm okay' or 'I'm super if you don't count that my parents are dead'. So it feels weird saying all of this to you while you're outside. Would you like to come inside?"

He stepped in and I closed the door. We didn't have sex or kiss or anything. I just told him more of my story.

So Mary isn't really that much of a stoner, she's more of an alcoholic, but if she's the main character, she probably wouldn't be able to keep that up. She's played by Chloe Moretz. So Stefan is going to be a love interest but would you rather see a love triangle with Damon or Tyler? Let me know if reviews.


	2. Make Me Happy

As I said, Stefan and I just talked last night and then he left. I woke up early in the morning because I wanted to see Vicki in the hospital. I tried to quietly sneak out of the house. Unfortunately, Jenna found me.

"Where are you going so early?" She asked.

"I have to finish a project for Home Ec at school." I replied easily. I had been thinking of it. It was contingent on Jenna not knowing that the school didn't have a Home Ec class though.

"Okay, make sure that you do well." She told me. I couldn't believe that she actually bought it. From there, I began to walk to the hospital. I decided to take some time to think. I didn't actually know if Stefan liked me, but I did know that things were done with Tyler. I never should have expected that relationship to last. All we ever did together was drink and have sex, with him sometimes smoking pot. It really wasn't even much of a relationship to be honest. It was more like we were fuckbuddies than anything else. I arrived at the hospital and began to look around. I managed to bribe my way past the front desk and headed to Vicki's room. She was sleeping, but she looked okay.

"You can't be in here, Hon." A nurse told me. "Visiting hours don't start until 9:00."

"What kind of rule is that?" I asked. "Anyone who wants to visit her has school."

"That's how the rules go. I don't make them." She replied. I thought about sitting in the lobby and waiting until 9:00 because I didn't have much to do at school, other than possibly see Stefan, but weren't even in any classes together. There was only a small chance that I'd see him and I really didn't want to go to Mr. Tanner's class. He was a dick who had it out for me. I would be perfectly okay if he just dropped dead.

I decided to go to school because if I couldn't see Vicki myself, I could talk to the next best person.

"Matt, I need to talk to you." I declared. We hadn't actually talked since he and Elena broke up. Another thing that I was surprised about was that I hadn't had anything to drink this morning. I think being with Stefan managed to get me out of a hangover somehow. "I wanted to know how Vicki is."

"She seems like she's fine." He told me. "She slept normally last night and they managed to stop the bleeding with some stitches. I want to thank you. She might be dead if you and Elena hadn't found her. Do you have any idea what she was doing out there?"

"No." I stated quickly. I hadn't told anyone other than Stefan that Tyler and I had broken up yet and I didn't want anyone to know that Vicki was the reason why because being dumped for a senior was humiliating. "So, did they know what attacked her?"

"She said it was a vampire." He explained.

"She was awake?" I asked in surprise.

"No, she mumbled vampire in her sleep." He explained. "We know that she was drunk. I bet it was a wolf or puma because she passed the rabies test. I was going to see her again after school. So is there any truth to the rumors that you're dumping Tyler for the new guy?"

"No." I answered.

I decided to skip Tanner's class because he was focusing on local history and I already knew enough about that. I heard from the hall that he was talking about this comet that was passing over the town tomorrow night. That had nothing to do with American History or even local history. It was astrology…or astronomy. I always get those two mixed up.

The thing about being at school was that there really wasn't a place to get a drink. I didn't have any liquor bottles stashed in my locker because I was not a moron.

I then saw Tyler surrounded by a group of guys and girls.

"So have you seen Vicki yet?" I asked him.

"No why would I do that?" He responded.

"I just thought that maybe if you cared enough to wreck our relationship to cheat on me with her, you might have cared enough to go visit her." I replied as I looked around.

"You can't hold that against me, I was drunk." He pointed out.

"So was I, but you didn't see me throwing myself at whatever guy I could find, did you?" I challenged.

"I heard that you hooked up with the new guy." He replied. I seriously want to know who started that rumor, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was Tyler himself. I figured that there was no point in me refuting it.

I went to the hospital after school to check on Vicki and see if she was awake yet. They definitely wouldn't be able to keep me out of the room.

I went to the hospital and happened to run into someone. It was Stefan yet again.

"We've got to stop meeting like this." I told him.

"Yeah, it could hurt." He agreed with a laugh.

"So I don't know if you pay attention to the rumor mill at school, but everything seems to think that we're having sex." I told him as I ran a hand through my hair.

"If there's one thing that I've learned, it's that high school students love to talk." He stated.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked curiously.

"I was thinking about donating some blood but I decided against it." He replied.

"I'm surprised that you even considered it due to you freaking out around me and also Vicki at the party." I joked. "So were you going to go home then?"

"I am." He confirmed.

"Do you mind if I go with you?" I asked. "I've always wanted to check out the Salvatore Boarding House."

"How about you go on ahead, there's something I have to do, but I'll meet you." He explained. "My uncle will probably be there to let you in."

Okay, that was weird. I decided to head to the house from there. I rang the bell, which was not a doorbell, and knocked on the door, causing it to push open. I just walked in and saw a man who was in his mid to late twenties with long brown hair.

"I'm so sorry that I just barged in." I apologized. "Stefan said that he would meet me here. So are you his uncle?"

"No, I'm Damon, his brother." He replied.

"He didn't mention that he had a brother." I declared, although to be fair, we hadn't gone into a lot of stuff.

"Well Stefan's not one to brag." He remarked. "So you must be Mary."

I guess that while Stefan hadn't mentioned his brother to me, the opposite wasn't true.

"I can see why my brother's so smitten. You're very pretty." He complimented me. Though, I was surprised that Stefan liked me like that.

"It sounds creepy when you say it." I remarked. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm kind of 15."

"I apologize, but I'm thrilled." He replied. "I thought he'd never get over the last one."

"The last one?" I questioned in confusion.

"Katherine, his girlfriend?" Damon replied as I just stared at him. "I take it you haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet? Oh well, it's definitely going to come up now."

"Stefan and I are not really together." I told him. I did have to admit that I was interested in finding out about Katherine now, though. I wondered if Stefan would tell me about her.

"Hello Stefan." Damon remarked. I looked and saw that his brother was there.

"Damon, I didn't know that you would be here." He declared.

"Well I just wanted to spend some time with my brother." Damon stated with a smirk. "You know I should break out the family photos, but be warned this one wasn't always a looker."

"Now isn't a very good time, Mary." Stefan responded. Well they definitely had issues. I decided that it would be a good idea for me to go home from there.

"I need you to move from in front of the door." I told him. He stepped aside and I went out before heading home.

When I got home, I noticed that Elena and Jenna were making dinner. I actually didn't feel that hungry. I had noticed the selection of drinks in the living room, but it's generally not a good idea to accept drinks from someone who might be a rapist.

"Hey, we're making dinner." Jenna told me.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry." I replied as I started to head upstairs. Suddenly, Jenna threw the apple in her hand and hit me in the back. "Ow, what the fuck. That's child abuse."

"Quit skipping class or you're grounded." She ordered.

"You might not want to listen to Mr. Tanner." I told her before I headed up to my room.

A little while later, I heard a knocking on my door. I had taken out my flask and was drinking from it. The door opened and it was Elena.

"What do you want?" I asked her. I wondered if she was going to judge me some more.

"I wanted to talk about Stefan." She replied.

"Not you too, I'm not sleeping with him." I remarked in frustration. "Even though I kind of like him, he's on the rebound and so am I and he has raging family issues."

"But he's nice and smart. Why wouldn't you want to be with him?" She asked me.

"If you like him so much, you date him!" I shouted.

The next was the…Comet Is Passing over the Town Festival. Small towns sometimes have really sad events. There was fucking face-painting. What the fuck did face-painting have to do with the comet?

I found that Vicki was inside of the Grill. She wasn't working, but I thought that maybe she could sneak me some booze. It was easier to forgive someone when they almost die.

"So how are you?" I asked her.

"I want you to know that I'm sorry, even though it wasn't my fault." She replied. "I'm hurting all over."

"Well you should probably take whatever they gave you for that." I suggested.

"They gave me the weak stuff. They're onto me, Mary." Vicki explained.

"Well it's not something that I can do anything about." I told her. "I'm not a drug mule and you know I only like stuff that you can drink. Being high is just depressing. Speaking of which, do you think you can give me something?"

"I'm not allowed behind the bar when I'm not working." She replied. Well that was unfortunate.

After dark, I went outside where everyone was lighting candles. I guess it was because they turned off all of the lights so people could see the comet. It was kind of cool to see even though there wasn't anything particularly impressive about it. I decided to grab a candle and looked for someone to help me light it. The only person that I found was Tyler. I sighed and let him light my candle before I looked for someone who needed a light of their own. It turned out that person was Stefan.

"Hi." I greeted him nervously.

"Hi." He reciprocated. I didn't know what to say next. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't really myself."

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a brother?" I asked him.

"We're not close. I haven't seen him in years." Stefan explained. "So did anything interesting happen to you yesterday after you left."

"Well my aunt got onto me for skipping class." I replied.

"Why are you skipping class?" He asked in a tone that didn't seem as judgmental as it was curious.

"The teacher is a total tool and he's out to get me." I replied. "I can't help but wonder if Mr. Tanner spends his free time thinking of new ways to torture us."

"Probably, but you should still go to class." He suggested.

"So Damon told me about your ex, Katherine." I responded.

"What did he say about her?" He asked curiously.

"She broke your heart." I repeated.

"That was a long time ago." He replied.

"It couldn't have been that much long ago." I pointed out. "Look, Stefan, in a lot of ways we're alike, we both have issues with our siblings and our exes, but we probably shouldn't date. It's too soon for this."

I then walked away. I wanted to see if I could find Vicki again because I really needed a drink. I went inside the Grill where everyone seemed to be seated together.

"Has anyone seen Vicki?" I questioned them.

"Why do you want to sleep with her too?" Tyler cracked. "Or do you just want her so she can sneak you something from the bar?"

"You're the one who tried to sleep with her." I pointed out. "Quit being an asshole already."

"I don't think that I want Stefan's sloppy seconds anyway." Tyler replied.

"How about you just shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt suggested. Everyone got up, but Elena grabbed me.

"So is this your game now? You're getting Vicki to supply you with drinks? You know she could get arrested for that." Elena asked. "This is going too far, Mary."

"Why can't I drink?" I challenged. "You drink."

"I don't drink as much as you do." She argued. "Why don't you just talk? Well I have an idea. We could send you to a therapist, or rehab where you'd be forced to talk."

"I vote for none of the above." I replied as I walked away. I guess I just wanted to go home.

I headed home and up to my room. I found that the door was open and Jenna was inside.

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked her angrily.

"How about you tell me why you have this?" She responded, holding up my flask.

"You're one to talk." I argued. "Mom always talked about you didn't do anything but smoke pot."

"Okay, I'm not her. Are you happy?" She asked me. "But I am trying. I get that you don't respect me, but all that I want is for you to be happy."

"Okay, then I need to go." I told her.

"I can't let you go anywhere. You're grounded." She told me.

"If you want me to be happy, you should let me go." I suggested. She got out of the way and I began to head to the boarding house. I managed to get there okay, but I figured out quickly that I should not walk back. It was too bad that I wasn't old enough to drive and I doubted Jenna would let me get a motorcycle.

I rang the bell and Stefan answered the door. I was glad it wasn't Damon.

"Hey, would you like to come in?" He asked me.

"Yes." I responded as I stepped in. I could have looked at the comet, but it really wasn't all that important. "So I wanted to apologize for earlier. I shouldn't have walked away from you. While there are a lot of reasons that we probably shouldn't be together, I forgot the biggest reason that we should.

"What's that?" He asked me curiously. I stood on my toes and pressed my lips to his.

"You make me happy." I replied.

So Mary and Stefan are officially a couple after all of the rumors that they were and the urging from other people. She also met Damon. Please don't forget to review.


	3. Make Me Cheer

Once again, I was in a good mood in the morning. Stefan seemed to have a habit of doing that to me. Now we were officially together and I couldn't wait to see him at school. I walked to school with an actual smile. I was wearing a light blue knee-length dress with a leather jacket and blue heels. Once I got to school, I was met by Bonnie and Elena.

"Hey, Mary, I need to talk to you." Bonnie remarked.

"What about?" I questioned. We hadn't really talked since well…ever, so I didn't know why she wanted to now.

"Stefan. I heard that you're dating him now." She stated as I glared at Elena. "I'm not sure if it's such a good idea. I mean you just got out of a relationship with Tyler. I'm not saying don't date the guy, I'm just saying take it so slow."

"Why exactly should I care what you think about him?" I asked her.

"I think I have to agree with her on this one, Bon." Elena chimed in. "Why don't know want her to date him?"

"I touched Stefan the other night and I got this really bad feeling." She explained.

"What?" I responded in confusion.

"Bonnie apparently has witch powers." Elena said. "According to her Grams, anyway."

"I'm just concerned. I've known you so long and I don't want to see you get hurt." Bonnie argued. That was kind of thoughtful.

"Bonnie, I've been depressed a lot less since I've gotten to know Stefan. You can't ask me to give him up." I told her.

At that point, Stefan walked over and gave me a kiss. I really didn't care if anyone saw our display of affection.

"Hello, Elena, Bonnie." He greeted them after we were done kissing. I couldn't see why she wouldn't like him. He was polite and funny.

"I have to go do something…somewhere." Bonnie announced before she walked away.

"She doesn't like me very much." Stefan noted.

"She doesn't really know you." Elena pointed out. "I like you. You know I have an idea. How about you come over for dinner and I can invite her."

"Is that what you want to do?" Stefan asked me.

"Yeah, I guess we can do that. I didn't have any plans." I told him. "I mean I don't need anyone to approve of you, but I guess it wouldn't hurt."

Suddenly, a ball came flying at us. Stefan managed to instinctively turn around and catch it. How did he do that? I then noticed that Tyler was the one who had thrown it. I looked at him angrily as Stefan prepared to throw it back.

"Let me." I offered as I took the ball from him. Besides drinking and having sex, one thing that Tyler had taught me was how to throw a football. I was aiming for one spot in particular. I really didn't like jealous people. I threw it and I missed his groin, but did hit his gut.

We then walked into school together.

"That catch was amazing." Elena gushed. "You should try out for the team."

"I don't think so." Stefan replied.

"So do you not like football?" I asked him as I headed to my locker.

"No, I love football." He answered. "It's just in this case I don't think that football likes me. Something tells me being on the same team as your ex-boyfriend isn't a very good idea."

"Fuck him. If you want to play football you shouldn't let something like that stop you." I argued.  
"Plus it might be good to get involved in the school."

"I don't see you joining the cheerleading squad." Stefan quipped.

"Well Elena is the cheerleader and I couldn't join if I wanted to." I pointed out. "Our team sucks, so they could really use you. Anyway, I'm thinking about actually going to class today, so see ya."

I didn't do much in school, but I did notice that Tanner seemed to be particularly pissed off. I couldn't help but wonder why. No one seemed to know the answers to any of his questions. Maybe that was because we were his only sophomore class. I couldn't but laugh at his pitiful attempts at sarcasm.

"Miss Gilbert, I see you decided to grace us with your presence today." He remarked. "Since you seem to be such a smart Alec, how about you tell us about the Berlin Wall."

"Communism. The Russians wanted Germany to be communists, but only half of the Germans liked it. So, they built a wall dividing the city and Ronald Reagan later yelled this guy named Gorbachev to tear it down." I explained. "Is that enough?"

He seemed unhappy. Did he not like that someone actually knew the answer to something? I just smirked at him.

I wasn't exactly sure what I should do after school. It seemed like Stefan wanted to try out for football. There seemed to be just one problem. Tanner was the football coach. Apparently he thought the secret to being a good coach was yelling at people. Hasn't he seen _Friday Night Lights?_ The secret to being a good coach is obviously being compassionate toward your players like they're your children, even when your star quarterback ends up getting paralyzed in the first game of your career. That was probably why the team hadn't won a game in two years. Or maybe it was just because we didn't have any good players. I couldn't help but notice that he finally let Stefan on the field.

It turned out that Stefan was more athletic than I thought he was. He kept catching passes and he really showed Tyler up, which I also happened to like. As long as Tyler was an asshole, I didn't care what happened to him. Though there was one ball where Stefan went up in the air for it and Tyler hit him before he even caught it. That was pass interference! I looked at Stefan, who looked like he was in a little bit of pain. Tyler was really started to get on my nerves.

I then looked over on the side of the bleachers where the cheerleaders were practicing. I couldn't help but notice that Elena was really out of sync with the rest of them. She used to be a great cheerleader, but it was kind of her first time doing since Mom and Dad died, so was obviously a bit rusty. She used to make me practice with her.

That night, I noticed that Elena had gotten some takeout and was putting it in a bowl.

"Do you really think that he won't be able to tell the difference between homemade and takeout?" I questioned.

"I want to at least pretend that I made this for you." Elena responded. "Now where are the serving spoons?"

"They're in the second drawer." Bonnie remarked before I could. That was weird.

"You've been like a thousand times." Elena reasoned. That was definitely true.

"Well last night I was watching _90210_ and I'm like I bet it's that phone commercial." She responded.

"That's because everyone wants to sell us a phone or a car." I pointed out.

"Well today I'm obsessed with numbers. I've got 8, 14, and 22." Bonnie then explained.

"Let's play the lottery." Elena suggested cheekily. A few minutes later, Stefan arrived.

"Hey." I said as I gave him a kiss. "You're right on time."

"Well I figured it was good to punctual." He replied.

"So I need you to pretend not to notice that Elena bought the food." I told him.

We sat down at the table and it was incredibly awkward. Bonnie didn't really seem to like Stefan anymore and no one was saying anything. I still didn't understand why she needed to like him. He was my boyfriend.

"So did Tanner let you on the team?" Elena asked him. If she had been watching, she would have known he did.

"Yes, so I must have done something right." Stefan responded.

"Bonnie, you should have seen it. Tyler threw this ball…" Elena started.

"I heard." Bonnie interrupted disinterestedly.

"Maybe you should tell Stefan about your family?" Elena suggested. I think if she has to try this hard, it's probably not meant to be.

"Divorced, no mom, I live with my dad." Bonnie muttered. There really wasn't anything interesting about that.

"No the witches." Elena responded. "Bonnie's descended from a line of witches. It's really cool."

"Cool's not the word I would use to describe it." Bonnie declared. Weird seemed to be a more appropriate one. Her Grams was probably just nuts. Actually she was nuts. Jenna took her class once.

"Well it's certainly interesting." Stefan commented. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting. "I'm not entirely versed but I do that a group of Celtic druids migrated to this area."

"My family's from Salem." Bonnie responded. I can't help but wonder why no one things of Salem, Oregon. It was a bigger city.

"Really, Salem witches, that is pretty cool." Stefan agreed.

"Why exactly?" Bonnie asked in confusion.

"Because Salem witches were about nonconformity. They would rather die than admit to gross accusations because they knew that God knew the truth." Stefan explained. It was brave, but pretty stupid, though probably not as stupid as the people who thought they were witches. "They were heroes."

"I guess they were." Bonnie agreed with a smile. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" Elena asked as we went to the door. She opened it and there was Caroline…and she had Damon with her. Were they dating?

"Surprise!" The blonde chirped as she stepped inside. "Bonnie said you were having dinner, so we brought dessert."

"Hope you don't mind." Damon added.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked his brother.

"Waiting for Elena or Mary to invite me in." Damon replied. You know I didn't picture him as a gentleman.

"Sure, come…" Elena remarked.

"No, he can't stay." Stefan interrupted. "Can you Damon?"

"Get in here." Caroline told him.

"Just come in so we can stop this useless conversation." I instructed. Damon smirked before he stepped into the house. After dessert, we sat in the living room with me on Stefan's lap and Caroline on Damon's.

"I cannot believe Tanner let you on the team." Caroline remarked. She could really talk a mile a minute. "Tyler must have been pissed, but good for you."

"That's what I tell him. You have to go after the things you want." Damon remarked.

"Elena wasn't so lucky, but it's only because she missed summer camp." Caroline explained. "I don't know how she'll ever learn the routine."

"I can teach her." Bonnie said in annoyance as Caroline thought out loud about putting her in the back.

"You know you don't really strike me as the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon commented.

"That's because she's going through a blah phase because her parents died." Caroline piped in. Sometimes she needs to shut up. "She used to be way more fun…and I say that with utmost sensitivity."

"I'm sorry you two." Damon apologized. "Stefan and I have watched just about every we've ever loved die."

"We don't need to go into that, Damon." Stefan told him. Now I was curious.

"You're right, Stefan." Damon agreed. Aw, I really wanted to know "The last thing that we need to do is bring her up."

Later I found that despite the fact that Elena had only ordered food, I still had to do the dishes. Fortunately, Damon volunteered to help. Who was I to resist his offer of free labor?

"So were you talking about Katherine earlier?" I asked curiously. He nodded. I couldn't believe she was dead. I thought she just dumped him. "How did she die?"

"Fire, tragic fire." He explained.

"You both dated her, didn't you?" I asked. I hoped I was correct in that assumption.

"You're very perceptive." He noted. "Ask Stefan. I'm sure his version differs from mine."

After he and everyone but Elena left, Stefan and I were alone in my room. To be honest, I'd never had a boy in it before Stefan. I wasn't crazy enough to bring Tyler home. We began to talk before we began to kiss and he began to undress me. Then suddenly, he turned into Damon. I woke up in a gasp, wondering why I had had such a nightmare.

The next day, I went to school and was immediately grabbed Caroline.

"I need you to put this in." She told me as she handed me some clothes. Specifically, it was a cheerleading uniform.

"Um, why?" I asked in confusion.

"Because Elena quit the cheerleading squad and now I'm one cheerleader down. Please I'll make it up to you later." She begged.

Within a few minutes, I was a cheerleader, or at least looked like one. I pulled on it because it showed my bellybutton and I didn't like people seeing it because I had an outie. I then found Stefan in his jersey.

"Whoa, this is unexpected." He commented.

"Caroline begged me to do it." I told him with a blush on my face. "Please don't look at my belly."

"You have nothing to be ashamed of Mary." He explained. "Plenty of people have them. I got you something."

He pulled a small box out of his pocket and inside was a necklace.

"I know this is a little weird, but I've had this for a while and thought it would look great on you." He explained.

"It's beautiful." I replied before I let him put it around my neck. There was a scent to it. "What's that smell?"

"It's an herb." He told me.

"So we're not exactly the quarterback and head cheerleader." I joked. "I barely even know the routine."

"We're a work in progress." He told me with a smile as I smiled back at him. "I should go get with the team."

So, if there was one thing that Tanner was good at, it was riling up a crowd. He had a lot of praise for Stefan and his hands. Suddenly, Tyler walked away and a few minutes later, he attacked Stefan. I went towards him ready to punch him, but he shoved me off. I then noticed a broken bottle on the ground and swung it at him, but missed accidentally slicing Stefan's hand.

"What the hell, Ty?" Matt asked his best friend. I then looked at Stefan who had his hand behind his back.

"Stefan, I'm so sorry." I apologized as I reached for his hand. "It is bad? Do you need to see a doctor?"

I then looked at his hand saw…nothing.

"What the fuck? I know I hit you." I replied.

"You missed. I'm fine." He told me. "I need to go to the locker room."

I then realized that there were tissues in Elena's car as I began to wonder if I needed glasses or maybe contacts. After I closed it, I noticed Damon was there.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm hiding from Caroline." He said. "I didn't know you were a cheerleader too."

"I wasn't until today and Elena's not anymore." I told him. "Why would you need to hide from her?"

"She talks more than I can listen and she's also awfully young." He explained. "She's really annoying."

"That's why you shouldn't date girls in high school and I don't want to hear you talking about her like this." I responded angrily.

"I'm sorry if I upset you." He apologized. "That's not my intention."

"Yes it is." I argued. "Everything you're saying has this weird double-meaning."

"You want to kiss me right now." He declared, looking me in the eye as he leaned in. I took the opportunity to kick him in the groin.

"I don't know what kind of issue you have with your brother, but you are a creep." I told him before I walked away. I wanted to tell Stefan about it right away, but he was getting changed.

As was about to head to the field for kickoff when I heard some sirens. I then noticed someone lying on the ground. It was Tanner with a bite mark on his neck and his eyes were open. Oh my god, I was gonna be sick. I didn't like the guy, but I didn't want him to die.

Stefan found me shortly after in the parking lot and wrapped his coat over me.

"I don't understand how this happened?" I stated. "How did an animal get all the way out here without anyone noticing it?"

"It's going to be alright." Stefan consoled. "Let me take you home."

"I was positive that I hit you." I told him as I looked over his hand.

"I'm not gonna let anything hurt you." He promised me.

So Damon not wanting Stefan to be happy wants to mess up his relationship with Mary. Also Elena is a big Stefary shipper. Please don't forget to review.


	4. Make Me Confused

I walked downstairs and it into the kitchen. Jenna and Elena were already there.

"Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you." Jenna cursed.

"Is there any particular reason you're swearing at the TV?" I asked.

"Him." Jenna replied pointing at the reporter.

"He's cute." Elena commented.

"He's not cute. There is nothing cute about him." Jenna declared. I then realized where I had seen him before.

"Is that your old boyfriend?" I asked.

"Yes, also known as Logan Scum Fell." Jenna replied before she turned off the TV and looked at us. "Did your mom ever tell you two why I left town?"

"You seriously left town because of a guy?" I questioned in disbelief. That seemed like a pretty extreme reaction.

"Well not seeing his face everywhere made my life easier." Jenna explained. "So what are you doing with all of this stuff?"

"Yeah, what are you doing with it?" I repeated as I noticed the various trinkets on the table that she was cleaning.

"Mrs. Lockwood asked for things for the heritage exhibit at the Founder's Party." Elena answered.

"We could just maybe take it to the pawn shop. I bet this stuff is worth a pretty penny." I quipped as I grabbed Dad's old watch.

"There's no way that you're doing that." Elena remarked as she snatched the watch out of my hand.

"I was joking." I told her. "That stuff was Mom and Dad's. You can't just give it away."

"It's a loan, Mary. They'll give it back." She replied. At that time, I heard the sound of the doorbell ringing. I answered it and there was Stefan. I grabbed him and pulled him through the door and suddenly up to my room. Once we were inside, we began to make out on my bed. It was going good until he suddenly pulled away and got off of me. Damn it, I had been hoping for sex.

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I just think that we were getting a little too heated." He commented. Maybe he was the type of guy that liked to take things slow, which there was nothing wrong with. If he wanted to wait a little while, I would wait.

"Please tell me you're not one of those guys that wants to wait till marriage." I requested. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to wait that long.

"No, but I don't think now is a good time." He told me.

"Okay, let's change the subject." I suggested. "How do you look in a suit?"

"I think I can pull one off." He answered.

"Well tomorrow is the Founder's Party and while I think it will be lame, I want you to be my date." I told him as I grabbed my panda.

"They still do that?" He questioned.

"Yeah, they do it every year." I explained. "How did you know about it anyway? Have you been?"

"No, the Salvatores don't get invited anymore." He replied. Everyone got invited, though. "But I would be glad to accompany you, Ms. Gilbert."

"Well make sure to wear something nice, Mr. Salvatore." I instructed. "Do you wanna make out some more?"

Later I decided to go to the Grill. I noticed that Tyler was talking to Vicki. He then walked away.

"You realize that you had to ask him to ask you, don't you?" I replied. "Why would you even want to go out with him? He's a tool."

"Well I need to cover for the fact that I want to meet someone else there." She replied. That left me a bit intrigued. Who was she seeing that she didn't want to be seen with?

Another reason that I wanted to go to the Founder's Party was I might be able to sneak some booze. It was only the light stuff like wine and champagne and I might only get a glass or two, so getting drunk wasn't likely. Jenna wouldn't give me my flask back, so I didn't have that option.

The next day, I was downstairs when I heard the sound of the doorbell. I opened it to see Tyler. I prepared to slam it in his face, but he stopped it with his foot before I could.

"I'm here for my mom." He replied. "He said there was a box of things."

"Here it is." Elena replied as she came down with the box. Hopefully she wouldn't notice that I had taken the watch. She handed it to him. "Please be careful."

"Yeah, be careful, Dick." I added.

"Come on, I don't want a fight here." Elena complained.

"It's nothing. She's just being a bitch." Tyler replied. I glared at him before she went upstairs. I tried to close the door, but he stopped it again. "Hey, would it make a difference if I said that I was sorry?"

"Not even if you meant it." I declared before I slammed the door. I needed to get ready. I had just come out of the door when suddenly my door opened. I quickly grabbed my towel and wrapped myself in it, seeing Elena in the door. "Dude, could I have some privacy?"

"Where's the watch?" Elena asked angrily.

"What watch?" I responded, feigning ignorance.

"The old watch of Dad's from the box." She explained. "It was in there and Mrs. Lockwood called me freaking out. She thinks she's the one who lost it."

"Maybe she did. Maybe Tyler took it." I suggested to her.

"Don't give me that. If I go down to the pawn shop am I going to find it there?" She asked. "Is that how you pay for your fake IDs and liquor?"

"Fuck you." I told her as I grabbed the watch from my bookshelf. "I would never sell this."

"Then why did you take it?" She questioned.

"Because it was supposed to be mine." I replied. "Dad said that it would usually be passed down to the firstborn son, but since it's just you and me, he said he would give it to me when I turned 18."

"It's still yours, Mary." She stated. "They're just borrowing it. They'll give it back."

"Just take it and get out." I ordered. "I need to get changed."

So I was going to be in a bad mood going into the party. I really hoped that Stefan would be able to cheer me up.

A few hours later, I had was fully dressed and made up in my red velvet dress with my hair curled. I was just waiting for Stefan to arrive so we could go together. Elena was going with Bonnie. I decided to put on some lip gloss at the last minute when Elena came in my room again. She said nothing and put the watch down on my desk before she walked out. Well, that meant that I would be in a better mood.

The doorbell then rang and there was Stefan. He was wearing a black suit and tie.

"Well you look handsome." I remarked. "Do I look okay?"

"You happen to look very beautiful." He declared. "We should get going."

There was a long line with when we got to the Lockwood mansion. Like I said, everyone was invited. Finally it came to our turn and no one was paying attention, but it was rude to walk in uninvited.

"Mayor Lockwood?" I asked, trying to get his attention.

"Hey, come in." He invited us before we stepped inside. "I haven't seen you much since you and Tyler broke up."

His parents liked me even though I didn't like either of them. His dad was kind of an asshole and his mom was a Stepford wife. I was glad that I wasn't going to marry into that family because I probably wouldn't like it.

A little bit later, Stefan and I were looking over the exhibits.

"You know there should really be a Salvatore exhibit." I commented.

"Well we have plenty of stuff, but no one asked." Stefan replied before I looked over the Gilbert exhibit and saw my parents' wedding rings. "Your parents'?"

"There's a lot of stuff here that makes me wanna cry." I told him as I resisted the urge. "Let's look at something else. Hey, they have the original town charter. It's got Mayor Benjamin Lockwood, Dr. Jonathan Gilbert, Sheriff William Forbes. Does that say Damon Salvatore…and Stefan Salvatore?

"The original Salvatore brothers." Damon interrupted. Caroline was by his side. I scowled upon seeing him. "Our ancestors: there's an interesting story to that."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan responded.

"I actually like a good story of the past." I commented.

"Well I'm bored." Caroline declared. "I wanna dance and Damon won't dance with me. Do you mind if I borrow your date?"

"Stefan can do whatever he wants." I responded.

"I'm not really much of a dancer." Stefan replied.

"Sure he is. Stefan does it all: the waltz, the jitterbug, the Soulja Boy." Damon argued. Now that I definitely had to see.

"Well I'm not going to take no for an answer." Caroline remarked as she dragged him off, leaving me with Damon. I started to walk away.

"Wait." He told me. "I want to apologize. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. My therapist says that I'm trying to punish Stefan."

"You go to a therapist?" I questioned in disbelief. People suggested I see one after the accident, but I refused. "What would you need to punish Stefan for?"

"It's all in the past and I want to put it behind me." He explained. "Let's just say the men in the Salvatore family are cursed with sibling rivalry and it all started with those guys. I just hope our version turns out better."

"What happened to them?" I asked curiously.

"There was a battle here." He started.

"The Battle of Willow Creek. I know about that. Confederates set Fell's Church on fire with people in it." I responded.

"What the books don't mention was that the people weren't there by accident. There were believed to be union sympathizers. Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in there. When they tried to save her, they were shot on sight."

"Damon, I don't know what happened between you and Stefan and Katherine, but please leave me out of it." I begged.

We then walked downstairs and outside where Stefan and Caroline were no longer dancing. They had drinks. I needed to get one of those.

"We have returned." I remarked. "How is everything going?"

"It's good." Stefan replied. "Drink, Damon?"

"No thank you." Damon answered.

"I'll take it." I offered as I took the glass out of his hand and downed it quickly. "So Stefan, do you have another dance in you?"

"I certainly do." Stefan replied as he grabbed my hand and took me to the dancefloor. I wished that the music was something better, like maybe a contemporary alternative ballad or something. We still began to move to the music slowly.

"So hope that Damon wasn't too much of a nuisance to you." He remarked.

"Actually, he was on surprisingly good behavior." I told him as we continued to move. "He told me about some of your family history and he told me that his issues go back to Katherine. So what can you tell me about her? What was she like?"

"I don't want to talk about that right now." He responded.

"Stefan, I understand that it may be hard to tell me about her, but I don't know anything about her: what she looked like, how old she was, or was she a Republican or Democrat?" I responded. "I really don't even know that much about you either."

"We really don't need to do this now." He replied.

"Stefan everything that I know about you I've learned from someone else." I pointed out. "I need you to know that you can talk to me about stuff because I'm your girlfriend."

"Don't you see what Damon is doing?" He asked. "He is trying to sabotage our relationship."

"No, he's not, but you seem keen on it." I declared as I walked away from him in frustration. It looked like we had just had our first fight. That was an unfortunate milestone in a relationship. I just hoped that there wouldn't be any more about this. I wanted him to come to me later and apologize and all would be good. I grabbed a piece of cake because it helped when I was upset.

Later, I found that I needed to pee from the champagne I had consumed. Once I was done, I stepped in front of the mirror and began to touch up my makeup. Caroline then came in and began to do the same.

"So how are things going with Stefan?" She asked curiously.

"We had a fight, but they're going to be okay." I explained.

"I guess my radar must be off then because I thought you were dunzo." She said. It was at that moment that I noticed something under her choker.

"What is that?" I asked as I moved the blue rose-shaped neckband and saw a red mark. She swatted my hand away. "Who did that to you? Did Damon hurt you?"

"No, of course not, it's just my mom would kill me." She muttered. I then noticed another one thing the holes of her cardigan and pushed it away. It looked like a bite mark. "Damon would never hurt me."

"Caroline, we need to tell someone about this." I remarked.

"Damn it, leave me the fuck alone." She cursed as she walked away. She seemed like a standard victim trying to rationalize everything. I knew that I could not let it stand.

I then went and found Damon, delivering a punch right to his face. He didn't seem fazed or injured by it, but it kind of hurt me.

"Stay away from Caroline." I ordered. "I don't know what you're doing to her, but if I see you with her again, I'm going to tell her mother, the sheriff."

I then walked away and found Stefan still near the dancefloor.

"I was wrong about Damon. He's a fucking psychopath." I explained.

"What did he do?" Stefan asked.

"There are bite marks all over Caroline's body and he's got her denying everything." I told him.

"Mary, I'm handling it." He declared.

"Handling it? Did you call the police?" I questioned.

"I know you don't understand, but I need you to trust me." He responded.

"I can't trust you if I don't know what I'm trusting you with." I told him as walked away yet again.

Later in the evening, I found Caroline alone in the grass. Her neck was bleeding and she was freaking out. Now I knew that the next time that I saw Damon I was going to kill him.

So Jenna had some very nice words to say to Logan's face on the TV. Also the problem stage has arose. And who is Vicki seeing? Please don't forget to review.


	5. Make Me Believe

I woke in the morning and prepared to head to the bathroom. It was Friday and I haven't seen Stefan since Sunday. I couldn't help but wonder if that meant that we were broken up. It seemed like everything went from good to bad over the course of an hour. The only consolation is that I hadn't seen Damon either. I opened the door to mine and Elena's bathroom and found Vicki…wearing a tank top and panties, brushing her teeth.

"What the fuck are you doing in my bathroom…and my house?" I asked her. I was royally confused to say the least.

"I'm almost done." Vicki replied with a mouthful of toothpaste. Were Vicki and Elena experimenting with lesbianism? It also meant that I would have to shower later.

I got dressed and headed downstairs where Jenna was at the table.

"Jenna, are you aware of what's going on up there because I sure as hell am not." I replied.

"Elena snuck her in last night." She explained. I think they were experimenting with lesbianism.

"And you're okay with this?" I asked. If my sister was gay, I didn't have a problem with it, but Vicki is not a good influence. She was worse than I was.

"She could be a little craftier and try to get her out, but yeah. I was okay with you dating Tyler. I'm going to let you girls make your own mistakes." She explained as I poured myself some Raisin Bran "So I wanted to tell you that I won't be home for dinner tonight."

"Why not?" I questioned.

"Logan asked me out." She responded.

"You said yes? How could you go out with someone who forced you out of town?" I inquired.

"I'm going to show up and torture him all night." She explained. That just seemed pretty petty. "Speaking of guys, have you heard from Stefan?"

"He sent me a voicemail, but I deleted it." I answered. "Anything that he wants to say to me, he needs to say in person. That is if I'm ever going to see him again."

"You should call him." She suggested. "Do what I'm going to do. Make him beg for your forgiveness and you can decide whether or not you want to take him back."

"I need to get to school." I remarked.

As soon as I got there, I noticed Caroline talking about the bikini carwash that was tomorrow…that I would have to wear a bikini to. I couldn't help but wonder if she would object to me wearing a sexy one-piece instead. Were one-pieces sexy? Farrah Fawcett and _Baywatch_, yes they could be.

"Hi." Stefan interrupted me. It seemed like he could show up as quickly as he could disappear. I didn't say anything. "I'm sorry that I haven't been around. I was dealing with Damon."

"That doesn't tell me anything." I pointed out as I crossed my arms over my chest before I sighed. "Did you deal with him? Was it really something took a full 96 hours nonstop?"

"I know you don't understand, but can I have a chance to explain?" He requested.

"Sure, when?" I asked. He was still too sexy to let get away so easily.

"I have to be home right away school, but how about at the Grill at 4:00?" He suggested.

"Stefan, where's Damon?" Caroline interrupted. "He has some serious apologizing to do."

"He's gone, Caroline." Stefan replied.

"When is he coming back?" The blonde persisted.

"Never." Stefan answered. He didn't kill him, did he?

"This is good news, Caroline." I told her after he left.

"I know that." She replied.

"So can I wear a one-piece to the carwash tomorrow?" I questioned.

"There's nothing sexy about a one-piece." She argued.

"Pamela Anderson disagrees." I countered.

"You need to wear a bikini. All of us are going to." She told me. I thought that maybe I should have pointed out that she was the one who begged me to join the squad and we hadn't even cheered because of the coach dying. You would think that there would be an assistant coach that could take over if anything happened to the coach, like him dying or quitting in the middle of the season.

I arrived at the Grill at 4:02. Figuring he was already there, I began to look for him but I didn't see him, only Matt.

"Hey, Matt, have you never seen Stefan?" I asked. He was by the pool table.

"No." Matt replied. I hoped that he wasn't going to bail on me. "But if you want to kill some time we can rack."

Since I had nothing better to do, I took a cue stick from him.

"So I have something that I need to you." I explained as I prepared to hit the ball. "Your sister and my sister are…having sex."

"What?" He asked in pure bafflement.

"Yeah, I found Vicki half-dressed in my bathroom this morning." I declared.

We ended up talking about things for nearly an hour.

"How late is he?" The quarterback questioned.

"It's almost an hour now." I responded. He looked at me. "I'm not going to talk about boys with you."

"It's not like I'm not a boy or anything." He quipped. I sighed.

"Okay, do you like Stefan?" I asked.

"Why what's he done?" Matt replied. I couldn't believe that he instantly sensed the problem.

"It's not any one thing but he's very secretive." I explained.

"So do you think he's a serial killer?" Matt quipped.

"No, but we hardly know anything about him." I pointed out.

"Well we know he's good at football, is a loner, but I actually think he's a good guy." Matt responded.

"So am I just being unreasonable?" I questioned.

"I think you should talk to him." Matt suggested.

"Talk to who?" Stefan asked, I guess having just got there. He looked at me. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Where were you?" I replied angrily. Did he mean Central Time or something?

"I'm gonna go." Matt announced, making his exit.

"I got held up. There was this thing with my uncle." He told me. You know I've never met this uncle. "I'm really sorry."

"Couldn't you have told me that you were going to be an hour late?" I questioned. "Fuck it, let's just talk. Why are you being so secretive?"

"I know you." Some random guy interrupted. I looked and saw that it was an old black man. "My God you haven't aged a day."

"I think you have me confused for someone else." Stefan told him. Who was that guy? We walked away from man and I looked at him.

"What the hell was that?" I asked. He couldn't find anything to say. "Okay, bye, find yourself a new girlfriend."

I went home and went straight to my room. I laid myself down on my bed because I just wanted to sulk. I did wonder what I was going to do about dinner since Jenna was going out with Logan. I wanted to take a nap.

I woke up about an hour later.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked me. She was standing in my doorway. Probably the only reason that I wasn't drunk was that I didn't have any alcohol.

"Is Vicki in your room?" I replied.

"Stop deflecting." She ordered.

"I broke up with Stefan okay." I declared. "Now will you leave me alone?"

"You should get something to eat." She suggested. I decided to do what she said, but only because I didn't want to hear her and Vicki fucking down the hall.

I walked downstairs and heard sounds from the kitchen.

"Jenna, I thought you were…Stefan." I said as I walked into the kitchen and noticed who was inside of it. "What are you doing here?"

"Cooking. Elena said you like chicken parmesan and I happen to be quite the chef." He explained. "Italian roots demand it you know. I can even make my own mozzarella, but tonight is store-bought."

"It's okay that I'm confused because I wasn't expecting to see you again ever." I responded. As soon as I said that, I realized that was impossible.

"I realized that you were right about the secrets and I thought that if you wanted to dump me, you should at least get to know who you're dumping." He pointed out, seeming unaware that I had already dumped him.

"Stefan…" I started.

"Let's start with Katherine." He interrupted. "She was very beautiful, one of the most beautiful girls that I've ever. She had this really obnoxious laugh that made you laugh, but she also was very bratty and impatient and vindictive. I don't know which one of me and Damon dated her first, but I do regret that I wasn't able to make it right with him before she died."

"Wow." I commented.

"But enough about Katherine, let's talk about me." He replied cheekily. I couldn't help but giggle at that. "I love to watch old movies. I'm a big Scorsese fan, especially _Taxi Driver. _For books, I love Fitzgerald and my favorite book is _The Great Gatsby, _but I'm no snob, I like newer stuff. I like Grisham, Patterson and I've even read _Twilight. _I think _Seinfeld _is the greatest show of the last 50 shows, but _The Big Bang Theory _and _How I Met Your Mother _are good too. For music there's a little bit of everything, Elvis, Michael, Patsy, Willie, Kanye, and even Miley."

I decided at that point that I would help him. I wasn't expecting to get so much out of him so suddenly.

"So everything that I said at the Grill is officially retracted." I stated. "So is this for the garlic bread, because if you're not having any, neither am I?"

"I love garlic." He told me with a smile before I accidentally cut my finger.

"Fuck." I cursed as I covered it.

"Are you okay?" He asked before I went over to the sink to wash it off. I then noticed something in the mirror. His face looked really weird.

"Are you okay?" I mimicked as I went over to him. He turned his back to me. "Stefan, look at me."

He turned to face me and he looked normal.

"I think I'm hallucinating." I told him.

The next day I arrived at the carwash to see Caroline wearing a frilly pink bikini top and shorts.

"Hey." Stefan greeted me.

"The event is called Sexy Suds for get sexy." She ordered.

"She didn't say that we could wear shorts." I replied. "But it looks like you're going to have that off."

"So are you." Stefan agreed. I nervously began to strip off my dress to a green and white striped bikini. I watched him take off his shirt and I had to resist pouncing on him.

We began to work on scrubbing a car together. It seemed like we were the sexy ones there because everyone else was wearing either shirts or shorts. Wasn't the point of a bikini carwash to wear bikinis?

"Are you sure you should be wearing that?" I asked, referring to his ring.

"Yes, it's fine." He declared. "It's waterproof."

"I saw that Damon has one too. Is there a reason for that?" I inquired.

"It's the family crest." He explained. "It's from the Renaissance."

"Okay, I need to go and get some towels." I announced. I wondered if I could wrap one around my waist.

I walked over to Caroline at the cashbox.

"So we need some towels." I replied. "Also I don't think the Shamwow is working."

"I'll go get some more." Caroline declared. "Watch the money."

After a little while, I was still at the cashbox. I couldn't help but wonder if Caroline got lost in the school. It was at that moment that the old man from the Grill walked up.

"Hey, I saw you yesterday at the Grill." I told him. "You were talking to my boyfriend, saying that you knew him."

"I must have been mistaken, my eyes were playing tricks on me." He declared.

"Where did you think you saw him?" I questioned curiously.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore Boarding House, Stefan was just passing through before there was an accident with his uncle being killed."

"His uncle, Zach?" I questioned. Had he lied about that?

"No, Joseph." The man corrected.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand." I stated.

"How could you? This happened in 1953." The man told me.

At that moment, one of the other cheerleaders came to him. He was her grandpa. She also let me go from the cashbox, and said that the man had Alzheimer's.

Still I figured I should see if I could find anything about this incident that he was talking about. I mean there was no way that it was possible for Stefan to have been alive in 1953. I knew one person who might be able to help me out. I noticed that Jenna was over with him.

"You know your car was finished a while ago." I told her. I then looked at her and Logan. "So is he is enough of your good graces that I could ask him for a favor?"

"If I did her a favor, would I be in your good graces?" Logan then replied. I had to smile a little. I couldn't help but wonder how the date had gone.

"Maybe to both." Jenna replied.

"Done." Logan agreed. "Wait, dinner at your place tonight. What do you need kid?"

"I was wondering if you had access to old news footage." I questioned. "I was interested in learning about some local history."

"I was about to head back to the station. I can give you a ride." He offered.

I grabbed my dress and put it back on before I headed to the news station.

"So what are you looking for?" Logan asked me after showing me how to use the database.

"It's an incident from the 50s at the Salvatore Boarding House." I explained. Suddenly he got a call involving a fire.

"I have to go, but if you have any trouble, Brady in tech can assist you." He told me before he left me alone. I couldn't believe that he was so trusting, there was some expensive equipment that I could easily mess in up in the room.

I found this old video of the attack from the early days of television. It was an animal attack. I couldn't help but notice how unprofessional it looked, but then I saw him. It was clearly Stefan in the picture. His clothes and hair were different, but it was him.

Once I got home, I was freaking out. I began to piece some things together. I had twice seen Stefan's face change, both Vicki and Tanner had strange neck wounds and blood loss, Stefan pretty much healed in front of me and then there were the marks on Caroline's body. It seemed like there was only one explanation. I couldn't believe it, but it had to be.

I went over to his house. Elena told me that I could borrow her car as long as I didn't get pulled over. I prepared to knock on the door, but it opened first. There was Stefan, with red eyes and a stake in his hand.

"Are you a vampire?" I asked him.

So Vicki was seeing Elena. Who saw that coming? And Mary found out about Stefan being a vampire. How will things go from there? Please don't forget to review.


	6. Make Me Understand

"Are you a vampire?" I asked. "Are you a vampire?"

"Everything you know, everything you've been taught is about to change." Stefan told me as he put the stake down. "Can you handle that?"

"That doesn't answer the question." I replied. I was already pretty sure of the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.

"Yes." He answered. I then realized what a bad idea it was to be there.

"I need to leave." I replied as I ran outside and to Elena's car. Before I could get to the door, I found him standing in front of me. "How the fuck did you do that?"

"Mary, there are things that you need to know." He explained as he grabbed my arm. "You can't tell anyone about this."

I jammed my elbow towards him, breaking free of his grasp and got in the car and drove home as fast as I could. I ran upstairs and went to check on Elena, who seemed to be fine. I then went back into my room and took some deep breaths.

"Mary…" Stefan replied. How was he in my room? I mean I had left my window open, but…actually that was probably it. I tried to leave my room, but he stood in front of the door. I was terrified to be honest. "Please don't be afraid of me. I would never ever hurt you."

"What about Vicki and Tanner and those other people?" I questioned.

"That was Damon." He told me. "I don't feed on human blood. That's not how I choose to survive. Whatever you do, you can't tell anyone about this?"

"How can you ask that?" I responded.

"Because knowing this is dangerous." He pointed out.

"Stefan, you need to go." I told him. "If you're not going to hurt me, then you will leave me alone."

"I didn't want you to find out like this." He stated before he stroked my hair before leaving through the window. I immediately closed and locked it. I took more deep breaths before collapsing onto my bed and falling asleep.

In the morning, I dressed myself in a navy tee and jeggings with a leather jacket and black scarf and black pair of Converse. I decided to text Stefan to meet at the Grill because I wanted to know more. There were so many different kinds of vampires in fiction and I had to know what was real.

"Thanks for meeting me." I told him.

"I'm just glad that you're still willing to talk to me." He stated.

"So I've seen _The Lost Boys _and _Near Dark _like 50 times." I told him. "Every vampire work is different. I want to know what's real."

"I'll tell you anything that you want to know." He promised.

"Well you eat garlic and you're somehow unaffected by sunlight." I noted.

"We have rings to protect us." Stefan explained.

"Well what about crosses, holy water, and mirrors." I inquired before a waitress came and refilled my glass of tea.

"Decorative, drinkable, and reflective." He told me after she left.

"Well you said that you don't drink human blood." I said. "Do you drink some other blood?"

"Yes, animal blood keeps me fed, but not as strong as Damon." He explained.

"Well why would you let him get involved with Caroline?" I questioned. She may not have been one of my best friends, but she didn't deserve that.

"I couldn't stop him. He's stronger than me." He pointed out.

"He was hurting her." I argued.

"No, he was feeding on her and compelling her not to tell anyone." He corrected. "If he wanted to kill her, he would have."

"That doesn't make it okay." I declared.

"I know it's not okay." He told me. "Just give me today. I will tell you anything that you want to know. If you still want to tell people after that, you can."

"Okay, you have today." I agreed.

We ended up going for a walk in the woods for reasons that I couldn't figure out. He said that there was something that he wanted to show me.

"Stop here." He told me as we arrived at some old ruins. "This is the place."

"Why did you bring me to the middle of fucking nowhere?" I asked in exasperation. I tended to swear when I was frustrated…and all of the time.

"This hasn't always been nowhere." He pointed out. "It used to be my home. 50 years before the boarding house was built, I lived here. Damon and I were born here."

"How old does that make you?" I questioned.

"I've been 17 since 1864." Stefan replied.

"So 162." I stated, doing the math in my head.

"161." He responded. That meant that his birthday was coming up later in the year.

"Are there any more vampires in town besides you and Damon?" I queried.

"None that I know of." He told me. "You know Damon and I used to be best friends."

He told me a story involving Damon teaching him how to play football. It also involved Katherine showing up.

"I can't believe that you knew Katherine in 1864." I admitted. "Damon made it sound like it was last year or something."

"Damon wanted you to think that I wasn't over her." Stefan told me. "He wanted you to think that I was still heartbroken, but I'm not."

"He did it all because you loved the woman 145 years ago?" I asked in disbelief. What was so special about her?

"She wasn't just any woman." He replied. He then told me about how both he and Damon and had asked him to the first Founder's Party, where they had signed the registry. "She chose me. I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother had wanted or that he would hate me for it. I just cared that she was mine. Damon doesn't get mad, though. He gets even."

"So that meant that he stole from you." I deduced.

"She was neither of ours to steal." He responded. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that she was a vampire. He told me about how he first found out. There was actually having sex at the time. Well now I knew that he wasn't a virgin. She used some sort of mind control to get him to keep it a secret. I guess that meant that Katherine wasn't that much better than Damon. So far I didn't have a very good view of vampires. Stefan seemed like he was okay, but Damon and Katherine were definitely not okay. "She controlled my mind and Damon's, and compelled to keep it a secret from each other."

It was at that moment that I decided to take everything in. I had basically been obsessed with vampires before the accident, along with werewolves, witches, and zombies. Now that I knew that one of those was real, I needed to figure out how I really felt. I did know that I was very much attracted to Stefan still, despite my fear. I was pretty sure that I could trust him and I understood his reasons for not telling me what he was. I then saw him bend down to pick up a ring with a blue stone off of the ground.

"Is that Damon's ring?" I questioned as he nodded.

"I took it from him, but now I have to give it back." He explained.

"There's no reason to give it back." I argued.

"Mary, if I don't give it back, he's promised to retaliate in the only way that he knew that he could hurt me." Stefan stated.'

"What would that be?" I asked.

"By hurting you." He replied. Okay, that was definitely not something that I wanted. It meant that Stefan did had to give it back.

"How did Katherine did anyway?" I asked curiously. "Do stakes still kill vampires?"

"Yes, but she wasn't killed like that." Stefan responded. "The town founders wanted to kill all of the vampires at once, so they rounded them up and sent them to Fell's Church to burn."

"Damon's story, it was true wasn't it?" I asked. "He said that you and him went to Fell's Church to save someone, who I'm assuming is Katherine. He also said that you were shot on sight. That means you're dead, but how does someone become a vampire?"

"You have to die with vampire blood in your system." He explained. "Damon and I had Katherine's."

"Did you ever do that mind control thing to me?" I then questioned. I knew that would definitely make me trust him a lot less.

"No." He answered as I breathed a sigh of relief. "That necklace that you're wearing contains an herb called vervain. It protects you from compulsion. I wanted to give it to you so Damon couldn't control your mind, but I also wanted to prevent myself from doing it as well. It means that whatever happens here today, whatever you decide, you'll have the freedom to make your own choices. We should get back."

We walked back to my house and I couldn't help but notice that's Matt truck was there. Why was Matt at the house. We walked in through the side door to find that he, Elena, and Vicki were in the kitchen. The refrigerator looked like it had been torn apart with a bunch of different plates of food that had each been partially touched.

"What the fuck happened here?" I questioned.

"She's really messed up." Matt replied in concern. I assumed that he meant that Vicki was on a bender.

"Everyone back up." Stefan replied as he looked over Vicki. His demeanor seemed to suggest that something was seriously wrong with her. Was it more than just drugs? She looked to Matt and Elena. "Take her upstairs and get her away from the light. She is going to be fine."

The two of them did so and I still wondered what was going on.

"Do you know what's up with her?" I replied.

"She's not on drugs." Stefan responded. Why was she acting so neurotic if it wasn't drugs? Was she just insane? "She's in transition."

"What does that mean? What is transition?" I questioned.

"It means that she's becoming a vampire." He told me. "Damon must have found her, gave her some blood and killed her. She's not a vampire because she wouldn't be able to walk in the sun if she was."

"Well how does she become a vampire?" I responded in fear, knowing that I wouldn't like the answer.

"She has to drink human blood." He answered. Yup, I didn't like that.

"Well what is going to happen to her if she doesn't?" I replied, pretty sure I wouldn't like that answer either.

"She'll die." He told me. It looked like I was 2-for-2. "I don't know how long it's been. She could only have a few hours."

"Why did you let her go with my sister when she's hungry for blood?" I asked angrily.

"Because I don't think she knows what's going on yet." He declared. "Soon her memories that were erased will start to return and she'll know that she has to make the choice."

"How did you make the choice?" I questioned. He looked like there was something that he didn't want to talk about. I knew that Elena couldn't bear to lose anyone else, even if they hadn't been together long and also that Matt didn't deserve to lose her because she was all that he had. "So all she has to do is drink human blood?"

Before he could say anything, Vicki came running down the stairs and bolted out the door and away. We rushed outside, but she was already gone.

"She was fine before she suddenly took off." Elena explained.

"I'm going to go look for her." Matt announced as he headed to his truck. "Let me know if she comes back here."

"I can track her." Stefan whispered to me.

"Go then." I instructed.

I wanted to go with him, because if he found her, he would need someone to give her some blood, but I needed to make sure that someone was here to keep Elena from going out looking for her and I didn't know where Jenna was.

I went inside and began to clean up the kitchen.

"So how long has you been you know…attracted to girls?" I asked my sister.

"Since before the accident." She answered. "I started crushing on Caroline, but I couldn't tell her that and Vicki was interested, so I went with it. I just don't know what's wrong with it. Maybe it was a bad idea to start dating her. She took me to meet some of her friends yesterday and they were total losers, at least they were before they were killed."

"Matt said he'd call if he finds her." I responded.

At that point, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it before seeing it was Damon. I tried to close it, but he grabbed it first.

"Elena, go upstairs." I ordered. She didn't know what was going on, but she listened. I tried my best to hide the fact that I was shaking.

"You're afraid of me." Damon noted. "I'm guessing that Stefan spilled the beans. Can I come in? Oh wait, of course I can, I've been invited."

That explained why Stefan didn't want me to let him in. He stepped into the house.

"I'm not going to kill you now if that's what you're worried about it. It wouldn't serve me greater agenda." He explained. "I'm just looking for my brother."

"He's out looking for Vicki." I spat. Even though she had no choice but to become a vampire, I still hated him for it.

"Don't look at me like that. That girl is going to thank me." He countered.

"Did you thank Katherine?" I challenged.

"How much of the story did Stefan tell you?" He questioned.

"He told me enough." I told him.

"I doubt that." The older brother responded as he turned to leave. "Tell Stefan that I'm looking for him and just a tip, you might want to be more careful about who you invite in."

Stefan eventually came back without her. He told me that he couldn't stop her from feeding, which wasn't what I wanted in the first place, but I wondered who she fed from.

"So what happens now?" I asked him.

"We need to come up with a story." He suggested. "I'll find her and teach her the right way to do things but I need some time."

"Just tell me what you want me to do." I replied. "I'm a part of this whether I want to be or not."

"You don't have to be part of this." He declared.

"Yes, I do." I responded. "Because not being a part of it means not seeing you and I don't want that."

So Mary and Stefan are staying together. That's good news. She also wanted to find out a little more than Elena did. Please don't forget to review.


	7. Make Me Scared

I woke up in the morning and headed to the bathroom to prepare for my shower. Instead, I found Elena was brushing her teeth.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"No, I'm done." She told me as she spit into the sink.

"You're up early." I noted.

"The sheriff is organizing a search party for Vicki." She explained.

"But you have school." I pointed out.

"Since when do you care about school?" She questioned. "She's missing school can fuck itself."

I sighed. I really needed to talk to Stefan. He told me that he and Damon had found Vicki last night and were keeping her there. I still didn't know what kind of story I was supposed to tell. I got dressed and headed downstairs. I knew I wouldn't be going to school. I would really have to work on my grades. I managed to get up my English grade to C, but I was still failing History, which we still didn't have a teacher for, but as of right now, I had more important things to worry about. I hope this vampire stuff doesn't cause me to have to go to summer school. I headed to the boarding house and rang the bell. It was answered by Damon. Oh joy.

"Is Stefan here?" I questioned.

"Yup." Damon told me.

"Where is he?" I asked in annoyance, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well good morning to you, Mary." He greeted me.

"How can you be such an asshole after everything you've done?" I questioned.

"How can you be such an idiot to call a vampire an asshole?" He challenged.

"You're not going to kill me." I declared confidently. "So where is Stefan?"

"He's upstairs playing the rain in Spain." Damon answered. Was he watching _My Fair Lady, _one of the worst movies of all time? I sighed and stepped into the house.

"Stefan?" I called upstairs. I then noticed that he was in front of me and I attacked him with my lips. "Do you know where Vicki is?"

"She's upstairs." He told me.

"We need to come up with something fast because my sister and half of the town are looking for her?' I explained. "Do you think people will believe that she's in rehab?"

"Maybe it might be something worth considering." Stefan agreed. "Right now, I need to teach some things and she still can't go out in the sun. I don't really have a solution for that at the moment, but I need to keep her here for a while."

"How long is that?" Vicki interrupted from upstairs.

"We'll talk about it later." Stefan told her.

"Vicki, how are you?" I questioned. As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized what a stupid question it was.

"I'm fucking peachy." Vicki replied.

"Do you a shower that I can use?" I asked Stefan.

So after I got out of the shower, I was in the living room with Stefan and Vicki. He gave both me and Vicki a cup of coffee.

"Coffee is our friend. It warms our bodies and the caffeine gives us energy which helps distract us from the need for blood." Stefan explained.

"But what if I want to drink human blood?" Vicki responded. I couldn't help but wonder how effective a diet of animal blood really was. It seemed like it was forcing someone to be a vegetarian.

"You're going to have to live with that urge and fight it one day at a time." Stefan told her.

"Oh, don't give me any of that 12 Steps crap." Vicki replied. "School counselor has been down that road and failed. It doesn't work for me."

I currently felt like I needed to take some of Damon's liquor.

"It can work." Stefan argued. "You just have to want it enough."

"So are you saying that you've never had human blood?" Vicki asked him. I was curious about that myself.

"It's been a long time." Stefan replied. I guess that meant that he had had it before.

"How long?" Vicki persisted. Why was she being so nosy about it?

"Years and years." Stefan declared. "The point is if I can do it, you can do it too."

I couldn't help but wonder if Stefan wanted to drink my blood. Was there a safe way for him to do that? Did I want him to do it?

"Does this sketchy feeling ever go away?" Vicki asked. "It's like I have a massive hangover and this no going in the sun thing is a bitch. I need more blood. I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

That definitely did seem odd. Stefan directed her to the bathroom and she got up and walked away. The situation was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"I'm gonna go get her some blood." Stefan announced. How was he doing that anyway? Did he have deer carcasses hung up on his wall or something? Did I really want to know?

Less than a minute later, Vicki returned.

"False alarm." The new vampire declared. "My body is really fucked up right now, but it's a good kind of fucked."

She pretty much swore as much as I did. I then noticed her taking out her phone.

"Who are you texting?" I asked her.

"Elena." She answered nonchalantly.

"Vicki, you can't see Elena right now." I told her in frustration.

"Don't tell me that. I'm gonna see whoever I want to see." She argued.

"I don't want Elena to know that you're a vampire at this time." I explained. "She could freak out or you could hurt her?"

"I would never hurt Elena." She tried to tell me.

"We can't take that risk right now." I remarked. "You and Elena are gonna have to break up until you have it under control."

"Or what?" Vicki challenged before she grabbed me by the neck. "Listen here, Bitch, I'm done listening to you. First you say that I shouldn't be with Tyler and now you don't want me to be with Elena. I'm going to do whatever I want because I have some fun new abilities and I won't think twice about ripping your cute little head off."

She then dropped me to the floor and I took some deep breaths as I grabbed my neck. Stefan returned and I grabbed him and took him outside.

"She threatened me, Stefan and she squeezed my neck." I told him. "I think I might have whiplash."

"She's on edge." Stefan told me. "Imagine every cell in your brain working all at once. It's not easy."

"Well how much longer is she going to be like this?" I asked as I massaged my trachea.

"I don't know. It could take a while." He explained.

"Well how long did it take you?" I inquired.

"A long time, but I didn't have anyone helping me." He pointed out. "The main thing is it's hard to resist certain people right now. Every emotion in your body can blend together into hunger. It means that she can't see Elena right now."

"I need to get home." I told him. "Stefan, I can't be here right now. I'm sorry but I don't like having my neck squeezed."

I couldn't imagine that anyone did, but there were some weird kinky people out there. I walked home, glad that Jenna was in class. I wished that I had someone who could use that mind control to make people think that I was at school. I was just glad that Jenna was on campus.

That night, I needed to talk to Elena. She needed to know that Vicki was okay, but it was a bad idea for them to be together at the moment. I hoped that she wouldn't take it as homophobia because I would be perfectly okay if it was any other girl who wasn't a vampire.

"So I heard that Vicki called Matt and that she's okay." I stated.

"That's nice." Elena muttered.

"Do you want to go to this Halloween party at the school tonight?" I questioned. "It sounds like it could be really fun."

"Sure, whatever." She responded. I guess she was miserable from not seeing Vicki.

"Elena, Vicki needs to get better right now." I told her. "I mean you saw her on a wild trip yesterday. Being in a relationship with a drug addict is dangerous."

"You seemed fine with it yesterday." She pointed out. "Vicki makes me feel special. Being with her has been amazing. I don't want to let that go. I want to help her through whatever issues she has."

I realized that there was nothing that I could do as she walked upstairs to change into her costume. I decided to wear a cloak/poncho/cape/I don't know over my current outfit of a black tee and maroon leather pants. I was like a medieval thief or something. Elena came down dressed in her nurse costume from last year. We got into her car and she drove us to the school.

Once we got to the school, we came across Matt. His was dressed in scrubs.

"Hey, you went with last year's costume too." He said with a smile.

"And what are you supposed to be?" Matt asked me as Elena walked away. "What's her problem?"

"We got into a fight." I told him.

"Yeah, I almost didn't come because I got into it with Vick." He explained. "I'm gonna give her space. You can't miss her she's a vampire.

"You know I just remembered that I have to go the bathroom." I stated before I frantically exited in search of Vicki. I decided to text Stefan to let him know that she was here at the school.

I ended up finding both of them with Stefan holding onto her arm. She probably didn't like how he was treating her like a child, but she had been acting like one.

"Oh thank God." I remarked. At that moment, Matt walked over.

"What's going on?" He asked in confusion.

"I told you to quit bothering me." Vicki shouted as she broke free of Stefan's grasp. "Matty, he won't leave me alone. Get him to leave me alone."

"You need to back off." Matt replied as he got in Stefan's face. At that moment, I noticed that Vicki had run away.

"Guys, Vicki's gone." I replied. I immediately ran off to look for her, hoping that she wasn't with Elena because that would end very badly. Since Stefan said that stakes worked, I might need to find one. I ran outside to over wear the buses were parked because the door had been opened. It probably wasn't a good idea to go into creepy places, but I didn't have a choice. I had to protect my sister.

I ended up finding Elena and also Vicki who looked downright feral to be honest. She bore her teeth and had bright red eyes. I was pretty sure that Elena knew that she was a vampire at that point. I had to do something to get her away. Against my best judgment, I grabbed a 2x4 and swung it at her, only for it to break against her. Fuck. She grabbed me and threw me onto a palette of wood. I winced in pain. I was at least glad that I managed to get her attention off of Elena.

Suddenly, Stefan appeared and grabbed her. He did his best to hold her back, but she managed to elude him and get away. She disappeared and we looked around for her.

"Get inside." Stefan ordered.

I grabbed Elena's hand and headed for the door. Just before we got inside, Vicki came and bit into my neck. I screamed in pain before she suddenly stopped and I noticed that Vicki had been impaled with a piece of wood. I watched as her skin began to turn grey as she stopped moving and fell to the ground. Stefan had just killed her.

"VICKI NO!" Elena screamed in anguish as she looked at her lover's body and tears began to rain down her face. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't be dead."

"Stefan, get her home." I ordered. "Now!"

Stefan did as told as removed her from the scene. I waited by her body. I was pretty much in shock as well because Vicki had been one of my friends and she was dead.

Damon then arrived looking rather smug.

"You did this." I told him as he looked over her body. "This is your fault. You fucking killed her!"

"You confuse me for someone who feels remorse." Damon pointed out. I then began to repeatedly pound my fists into him. "You need to leave. You have several open wounds and it's making me very hungry."

I then walked out to the parking lot with a bit of a limp. I had Elena's keys so I could drive home.

"Whoa what happened?" Matt asked as he saw me.

"Some fucker sprayed me with blood." I lied.

"I can't find Vick." He told me.

"I haven't seen her." I lied once again. I couldn't tell him the truth. I just couldn't.

"Is this what I'm in for, a lifetime of worrying about her?" He questioned. Now I felt even worse. He walked off and I headed to the car and began to cry.

I then drove home and found Stefan outside.

"How is she?" I asked him.

"She's a wreck." Stefan replied.

I then went inside and up to her room. I needed to make sure that she was far away from sharp objects.

"Do you understand what happened?" I asked her

"No." Elena wept. "Why does everyone have to die on me? First mom and dad and now Vicki?"

"Elena, I'm still here." I told her as I gave her a hug. "You can't tell anyone what happened out there tonight."

She began to cry some more and I didn't know what to do. I was afraid of what she'd do.

"I don't know what to do Stefan." I cried as my boyfriend held me in his arms. "I feel that if I leave her alone too long, she'll slit her throat."

"I'll do anything that you want me to do." Stefan promised.

"I need you to use your mind control to make her forget what happened tonight." I replied.

"Mary, I don't know if I can do that." He told me. "Even if I could, there's no guarantee that it will stick. I don't drink human blood so compulsion doesn't really work well for me."

"I'll do it." Damon offered as he appeared suddenly.

"Really?" I questioned in disbelief.

"Yes, just tell me what you want her to know." Damon replied. I had a feeling that there was a catch, but I guess I would have to pay it.

"I want her to think that Vicki told her that she was leaving town and she won't look for her and she'll move on."

"Okay." Damon agreed as he entered the house. I looked at Stefan.

"I need some sleep." I told him. "Will you lay down with me?"

Stefan went upstairs with me to my room and I changed and got into bed. I didn't care if he would be gone by morning, but I needed him tonight.

So the chapter ends with a sweet moment between Mary and Stefan. Now that Vicki is dead, it looks like Elena is going to be with Anna. Please don;t forget to review.


	8. Make Me A Friend

It had been a few days since Vicki's death, or as the Sheriff's department was calling it, her disappearance. They were basically calling everyone in for questioning. They had Elena, Matt, me, and even Stefan. I was a little surprised that Tyler wasn't there. I walked out of the department with Elena and Jenna. I don't think that they were supposed to talk to Matt or Stefan since they didn't have guardians present, but I could be wrong. I met up with Stefan outside. He seemed to be trying to talk to Matt, but the quarterback wasn't having any of it.

"I'll meet you guys at home." I said to Jenna as I walked over to Stefan. "So it worked. Elena doesn't remember anything."

"That's what it's supposed to be like." Stefan confirmed. "So are you okay? Vicki was your friend."

"I think she stopped being my friend as soon as she tried to kill me." I pointed out. "I don't blame you for what you did. You didn't have a whole lot of time to think things through."

"Do you want to go somewhere with me?" He asked.

"I can't have. I have to get home and catch up on my homework or I'm going to fail, Stefan." I told him.

"I could help you." He offered.

"This is really something that I need to do on my own." I told him. "I might be able to do something later."

I gave him a kiss before I walked away. I couldn't believe that I thought it was a good idea not to go to class. I hoped that I would be able to fix it so I wouldn't have to resort to trying to convince Damon to compel my teacher to give me a good grade. It's especially hard since they haven't even hired a teacher yet.

I went home and began to do my work in the kitchen. I couldn't help but notice that Elena and Jenna were both wallowing over their respective relationships. I had no idea what happened to Logan, but he wasn't on the news anymore. Part of me wondered if Damon had killed him. Eventually, I was beginning to get annoyed by their whining.

"Shut up." I remarked.

"You know not everyone is in a good relationship like you." Elena told me spitefully.

"Well crying about it won't help you any." I pointed out. "Some of us have other things to do than listen to you bitch about it."

"What are you doing?" Jenna asked me.

"Homework and it would work better if I had quiet." I replied. I half-expected some snarky comment about how I should be doing it in my room.

"What do you think: Alien or Robots" Jenna whispered not very quietly.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I replied.

"No, it's definitely her." Elena stated. "No alien or robot could swear like she does."

I wanted to raise my middle finger for that, but I had a feeling that Jenna might ground me. I stalked up to my room. I finished my work pretty quickly there and decided to take a nap.

I found myself being awoken by Elena, who had invited Bonnie over a little bit later.

"What are you doing in here?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm sleeping so go away." I ordered.

"Why are you so cranky today?" Elena asked.

"I had to wake up at 6:00 to go in for questioning at the police station." I pointed out. "I have the right to be cranky and I would be less cranky if you gave me a chance to sleep."

"I need to show you two something." Bonnie replied. "Get out of bed."

I did so because I felt that Elena might try to push me out if I didn't. One thing I couldn't help but wonder was if Elena was going to explore her Sapphic feelings with other girls now that Vicki was gone. Bonnie then took my pillow and began to cut it up, dumping the feather all over the floor.

"What the fuck? That was my favorite pillow." I remarked.

Bonnie then began to make the feathers float around the room. It was impressive but she didn't need to destroy my pillow.

"After all of the joking and the not believing, I really am a witch." Bonnie explained.

"That's cool, but do you have a spell to put my pillow back together, because if not you're buying me a new one and that one cost 45 dollars." I told her.

"She just told you that she's a witch and you're focused on your pillow?" Elena asked in disbelief.

"It was a nice pillow." I countered.

"The important thing is that neither of you can tell anyone about this." Bonnie stated. "My Grams probably won't like that I told you."

"Well since I can't sleep. I'm going to see Stefan." I announced. "I need you to get out of my room so I can get dressed."

I headed to the boarding house dressed in a black tee shirt and red slacks with a navy cardigan, blue fingernails, black spotted flats and some sunglasses on my head. I rang the bell.

"It's open." An unfamiliar female voice answered. I was confused as I walked inside. I looked around and saw a blonde girl wearing a towel in front of me. I was shocked. Stefan couldn't have been cheating on me, could he? I really hoped that she was a sister that I never knew about.

"Who the fuck are you?" I asked her.

"I'm Lexi, a friend of Stefan's." She answered. Since when did Stefan have friends? Why was she in a towel?

"Well I'm Mary." I announced.

"Yes, Stefan's told me about you." She declared. "He's in the shower. You can wait for him if you'd like."

"No, that's okay." I declared. "I think I'm going to go home."

"I'll tell him that you stopped by." She remarked before I went out the door. He was the one who didn't want to have sex with me. Why was he having it with someone else?

When I got home, I was mopey. I was having a miserable first of my period. I couldn't help but wonder if that was something that vampires noticed. Though, maybe since menstruation is the most common form of bleeding, it's the easiest to get used to. Stefan seemed okay when he was around me earlier, so maybe that was the case.

All I knew was that I wanted to stay inside and sulk. Caroline was throwing a party at the Grill for some unknown reason. I think it might have been just because she had enough money to do so. I mean I had the money too in my trust fund, but I can't access that right now. What the reason, I knew that I wasn't going to go. I was pretty sure that Elena was going. I wasn't sure if she was going to try to make a move on Caroline.

I was alone downstairs that night because Jenna had a night class. I couldn't understand why anyone would want to go to school at night. Jenna had time during the day. She was trying to get her Master's. I had no idea what she planned on doing with a Master's in Psychology. That seemed like something that you would need a doctorate to make any money in.

The doorbell then rang and I answered it. I was surprised to see Stefan.

"What do you want?" I asked him grumpily.

"Are you okay? Lexi said that you came over earlier." He told me.

"I can't imagine why I would be upset after being greeted by a girl in a towel." I quipped. Stefan had an amused look on his face. I couldn't see what was funny.

"Lexi's not really a girl." He explained. Was she a hermaphrodite? "She's 350 years old. She's my oldest friend. There's never been anything romantic ever. She has a boyfriend."

"So you didn't cheat on me." I said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"I would never do to you, Mary." He stated. "You should have just talked to me about it. So do you want to go with me to the Grill?"

"Are you seriously going to Caroline's party?" I asked him in disbelief. He would fit in there like a man at a Melissa Etheridge concert.

"Lexi is dragging me." He explained. "And it's kind of my birthday."

"What, why didn't you tell me? I would have gotten you something." I asked. I don't know what you're supposed to get a 162-year-old vampire. I knew he likes books. I then had an idea. "You know I think I'm gonna stay in."

My plan was to get him to thing that I wasn't coming and then surprise him. It still didn't give me enough time to get him a gift. Why did he not tell me earlier? I would have hung out with him if I had known it was his birthday.

I decided that what was wearing was fine for the party and headed to the Grill. One thing that I couldn't help but wonder was why Stefan didn't have a car. I know he didn't really need one since he had the whole super speed thing, but he could easily afford one.

I walked inside of the Grill and began to look for him. There were a lot of people. I assumed that people didn't care about the reason for the party and just wanted to party. I spotted him with Lexi. The two of them looked like they were having a good time. He never seemed to have that much fun with me.

"Stefan smiles. You should alert the media." Damon quipped as he appeared behind me. I didn't know where Logan was to do that.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "You're not supposed to be within 50 feet of Caroline."

"You seem to think that I care about that." He told me. "Relax, I'm not feeding on her anymore."

"Stefan really hasn't had many reasons to smile lately because of you." I pointed out as I looked back at them.

"Poor Stefan, ever tormented by his older brother." Damon responded. I turned to walk away. "Does my presence bother you that much?"

"I seem to get a rash whenever I'm around you." I explained before I made my exit.

"Well consider my feelings hurt." He called after me and I walked over to him.

"Thank you for erasing Elena's memories." I told him. "Though, you kind of owed me before turning Vicki into a vampire because she tried to kill me."

I decided to walk away from him again and looked for Stefan and Lexi, but only found Stefan.

"Well if it isn't the famous Mary." Lexi said as she also appeared behind me. She had some shots of tequila.

"Towel girl." I responded.

"Eh, I've been called worse." She shrugged before she handed me a shot. I quickly downed it. "I see you like to drink."

"So why did you think it was a good idea to answer someone else's door wearing only a towel?" I asked her.

"Because I am crazy and so is Stefan if you get to know him." She replied.

"Well I've known him for a few months and I've never seen him like he is with you." I remarked.

"Well it's going to come with time." Lexi promised. "In a few years, you'll be able to know him so well that you could write a book about him."

"How do you know anything about a vampire dating a human?" I questioned.

"Because the love of my life was human." She responded. "How do you feel about Stefan being a vampire?"

"I don't really care." I stated. "I mean I was afraid at first, but after what's happened lately, I know that I love him. He's the best thing in my life."

"You know you are really adorable." She told me. "I can see why Stefan likes you so much."

"I can see that you two are great friends." I replied. "So have you really never liked him?"

"Stefan's not the type of guy I'm attracted to." She said. "You should know that he's crazy about you and he would do anything for you. This is going to be one of those epic love stories."

"Thanks for the drink." I declared as I went to the bathroom. After I was done, I walked over to Stefan. "So you have a BFF. That's so sweet."

"We should get you one." He joked. I was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. "So I thought you weren't coming."

"I decided to surprise you." I told him. "Now I am getting you a present even if I have to get it tomorrow. What do you want?"

Before he could answer me, we noticed that Sheriff Forbes had walked in. I instinctively hid my drink. She seemed to be walking close to Damon. Had she found out that he was the one behind the murders? I then noticed that she seemed to be after Lexi, not Damon. What did he do?

"We need to leave." Stefan told me.

"Can't get out this way." A deputy blocking the door replied.

We had to go around and began to look for another way out. We managed to sneak out the back and happened to see Damon driving a stake into Lexi's heart. I gasped in shock as I saw the look of devastation on Stefan's face. He looked like he wanted to kill Damon again and then cry or maybe do those in the reverse order. I knew that I had to find a way to calm him down before he did something that he would regret.

"I'm going to kill him." He seethed.

"No, Stefan you can't." I argued.

"Why are you trying to save him?" He asked me in confusion. "He killed Tanner, Zach, Lexi, he turned Vicki and abused Caroline. He deserves to die."

"Because you can't go for revenge." I explained. "It's the kind of thing that can eat up at you. You may be mad now, but there will come a time when you'll regret it and I can't let you do that. Please, please, please don't do this. Just let me take you home."

"You should stay away from me." He stated before he ran off. I couldn't follow him. I just had to hope he wouldn't make a mistake.

So Mary loves Stefan, but she didn't say to him, even though he heard it. It's too bad things are going to get bad in the next chapter. But Alaric will be there too. Please don't forget to review.


	9. Make Me Love You

I was definitely worried in the morning when I didn't hear from Stefan. All I needed was text saying that he didn't kill Damon. I ended up putting on a salmon lace dress and leather jacket. Stefan hadn't answered any of my calls and one thing that crossed my mind was that he tried to kill Damon, but Damon killed him instead.

I hitched a ride with Elena to school. As soon as we got there, she met up with Caroline. As far as I could tell, the two of them had not hooked up the night before. I wasn't sure if I wanted them to or not.

"So I'm confused about this thing." I told the blonde.

"It's simple. I hate Bonnie because she's a thief. I gave her this necklace and she won't give it back to me." Caroline explained.

"Is that the ugly necklace that Damon gave you?" Elena asked.

"Yes, but it's I want it to back." Caroline answered.

"You could be the bigger person." Elena suggested.

"That's impossible with her." Caroline sighed. No, Caroline was clearly taller.

"That's it. I'm out of it." Elena replied. I was never in it. "So I heard you got really drunk last night."

"Yeah Matt took me home." She responded before we heard the bell. I needed to get to my locker. I didn't see Stefan anywhere, but it looked like I wouldn't have time to wait for him. I wished that I had Damon's name to see if he would tell me anything. I would have to see if Caroline still had it.

We were getting a new history teacher today. I hoped that he would be better than Tanner and he would also stay away from vampires, though Damon seemed more in control than he was before. It appeared like he was saving Sheriff Forbes from Lexi, so he had to have some sort of plan in place.

I walked into my History class to see a man in his early 30s. He had the name Alaric Saltzman on the board. I had never seen a name like that before.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted before he started to write his name on the board. "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins, but I'm from Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. So you can call me Ric. I'm your new History teacher."

"Is this US History?" A female voice asked from the doorway. Everyone turned to see an Asian girl standing there.

"So I see someone here is just as new as I am." Mr. Saltzman declared. "What's your name?"

"It's Anna…Clarkson." She replied. I was expecting some more…well Asian. "I just moved here."

After class was over, he came up to me.

"Margaret Gilbert?" He asked.

"It's Mary." I corrected.

"I need to talk to you. Are you free during lunch?" He questioned.

"Yes." I answered. I had a feeling it was about my grades.

So at lunch, I went to his classroom where he was eating a sandwich.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked him.

"Did you know that your old teacher had a bitch folder?" He responded. "No joke it's on the label. It's basically a testament about how much he hated you."

He then tossed it in the trash.

"Don't worry about it." He added. "But we do have something that we need to talk about it: your grades. Now from what I get you're very smart, but you attendance is very poor and you didn't turn in assignments."

"Let's say the hatred was mutual." I commented. "I've been trying to fix it lately."

"That's good, but I don't how you can pass without help at this point." He told me. "Fortunately, I'm willing to offer you some help. I want you to write me a paper about anything you like as long as it's local and you don't use any internet sources. I think if you can get an A, you'll be back on track. You have a week."

"Thank you for the opportunity and I promise I won't let you down." I told him.

I then noticed Anna outside of the room. Apparently she wanted to talk to him too. After school, she ended up finding me.

"So I couldn't help but overhear that Mr. Saltzman assigned you a paper." She noted. "I could help you do some research if you'd like."

"Okay sure." I agreed. "Wait, shouldn't we have some kind of introduction first? I'm Mary Gilbert."

"Well you already know my name." She stated.

"So do you have a car?" I questioned. "Are you 16?"

"Yes and yes." She answered as she led me to the parking lot where a classic car was parked. It seemed to be a Dodge Charger like my dad used to have.

"Where did you get this?" I asked in surprise.

"My mom knew a guy that collected old cars. It was kind of a moving present." She responded as she opened the door and let me in. "The only problem is it's really bad on gas."

She drove me to the library and helped me find some reference books.

"So do you have any idea what you're going to write it on?" She asked.

"Well I know my family was among the town's original settlers." I replied. "I wonder if they have books about them here?"

"I heard that a lot of those founding families wrote in these old journals." She replied. "Maybe you should see if yours has one."

At that moment, my phone began to ring. It was Elena. I answered it in annoyance.

"What?" I asked.

"I need you to come home." She told me. "There's a witch thing that Bonnie and I need to talk to you about."

"Okay, fine, I'll be right here." I promised. I looked over to Anna. "I need you to give me a ride home."

She didn't ask any questions and just dropped me off at the house.

"Who was that?" Elena asked.

"She's a new girl in my History class." I answered. "What is the problem?"

"Damon has been threatening me because he wants this necklace that belonged to my ancestor Emily who has been haunting me." Bonnie explained. That meant that Damon was still alive.

"Where is this necklace?" I questioned. The being haunted part was kind of farfetched but I guess if witches and vampires could exist, ghosts could too.

"I threw it into a field." Bonnie told me. That meant it was handled.

"So why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"I want you to talk to Stefan about it." Elena replied. "He's Damon's brother and he might be able to find out why."

"Okay, but I promised Jenna that I would have dinner with her at the Grill tonight." I declared.

I sent Stefan a text and told him that it was urgent. He was over pretty quickly.

"I didn't see today after school." He replied.

"I had to go to the library and start working on a paper." I replied. I then realized that I needed to start the paper. It would have to be tonight. "Was there something that you wanted to tell me? I know Damon's alive."

"I'm not coming to school anymore." He replied. "I need to stay away from you."

"Well good luck with that because I still need your help." I told him. "Damon's tormenting Bonnie over this necklace of her ancestor Emily's. Bonnie's a witch by the way."

"I knew that and I knew Emily. That necklace belonged to Katherine. Emily must have given it to her." He explained. "I'll do this for you, but it's probably not safe for us to be together."

"I couldn't feel any safer than when I'm with you." I pointed out. "I'm sorry about Lexi, but I know you love me."

"I should probably get going." He stated. He didn't confirm or deny that he loved me. I needed to go and meet Jenna at the Grill.

When I got to the Grill, I happened to notice that Damon was there and Stefan arrived not long after, but I needed to let them work it out for themselves. I also noted that Mr. Saltzman was there by himself. There did not seem to be Mrs. Saltzman.

"I love a man that can dine alone." Jenna commented.

"I thought that you weren't over Logan." I reminded her.

"Oh, I've sworn off men forever, but I can still admire from afar." She explained. I knew that wouldn't last.

"Well I could introduce you if you like." I offered. She shook her head. "So do you know if we have any old journals from around the Civil War?"

"Your dad had a bunch of that old stuff in the attic. Maybe you should see if it's in there." She suggested. "Why do you need it anymore?"

"My teacher that you have been ogling assigned me a paper that can help me pass History." I declared.

"I'm not ogling him!" She replied.

"Yes, you are." I argued. I then noticed that he was walking this way. "He's coming over here."

Jenna blushed as he walked over.

"Mary, it's good to see you." He remarked.

"This is my aunt, Jenna Somers. She couldn't help staring at you from across the room." I introduced. I actually really liked making her blush because she had done it to me with a guy that I liked when I was 13. Revenge was a dish best served cold.

At that moment, I noticed that Stefan and Damon were no longer there. I couldn't help but wonder where they had gone.

At that point, the second new face that I had met found me by the bathroom.

"Hey Mary, how are you doing?" She asked me.

"Well my sister is having a sleepover, my boyfriend is with his brother and my aunt is macking on our teacher, so I guess I'm free to hang out with you."

"I'm glad to know that I am so high on your list." She quipped. "How do you like foosball?"

"I guess I could play a game or two." I replied as we headed to the table.

"So how do you feel about vampires?" She asked me.

"I have to say that I'm quite fond of them." I replied with a smile. Okay, so the only one that I liked was Stefan. "Does every Goth kid like vampires?"

"No, and it's not just restricted to Goths anymore." She pointed out. "This _Twilight _stuff has brought vampires to the masses, even if they are horribly bad. It's the best and the worst thing that could happen to vampires."

"I suppose but Alice is one of the most awesome vampires ever." I replied.

"Okay, the series would be much better if Alice was the love interest." She agreed before I noticed that my phone was ringing again and once again it was Elena.

"It's my sister again." I stated. "I'm sorry. I have to take this. Hello?"

"Emily is possessing Bonnie and she said that she needed to go back to where it all began or something. I think she meant Fell's Church."

"Okay, stay at the house and I'll fix this." I instructed. I then went to relay the information to Stefan once I was away from Anna. She seemed like a really nice girl and I hated that I had to ditch her again. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to have any friends that didn't know about this stuff.

I then made my way to the church as fast as I could. I couldn't help but notice that the stuff seemed to be far underway when I got there. Bonnie/Emily was surrounded by this circle of fire before she threw what I assumed to be the necklace in the air and it exploded. She then looked dazed and confused before Damon ran over and bit her neck. Stefan managed to tear her off.

"She's alive but just barely. I can save her." He stated before he fed some blood into her mouth. I probably shouldn't have been surprised at that. Many pieces of vampire lore mentioned the healing properties of it. Bonnie managed to open her eyes about halfway through and looked even more confused.

"Mary, what the hell is going on?" She asked me.

"I promise I'll explain everything on the way back home." I declared. "Right now I need to talk to Stefan."

"I noticed that Damon had a look of absolute heartbreak on his face. I had never seen him upset before, but I needed to talk to Stefan.

"You did it." I told him. "You saved her life. You're the here. You don't need to stop seeing me at school or at all because you're a good guy and I really want to do this with you."

"I can't." He responded. What? "Everything bad that's happened here is my fault. I can't be with you, Mary. In fact I need to leave. I can't stay here."

"Stefan, no, don't go. I need you here." I begged as tears started to leave my eyes. "I'm not afraid of you. I love you."

He just kissed my forehead instead of my lips. I didn't understand why he was breaking up with me. Bonnie would be fine.

He walked away and I went over to Bonnie. We would be walking home together which would give us plenty of time to talk. I had to fight my tears.

"So before I tell you anything, I want to promise not to tell any of this to anyone, especially not Elena." I said. "Just tell her that Emily destroyed the crystal and then stopped possessing you. Now Stefan and Damon are vampires. They were alive during the Civil War. All of those animal attacks were really Damon. I don't want Elena to know about this because she found out when Vicki tried to kill her and me. Damon turned Vicki into a vampire and she went rabid and attacked us, so Stefan had to kill her. Elena looked so broken by seeing her die. Damon had to erase her memories so I could insure that she would make it through the night and that's where we are right now."

"What did Stefan say?" She asked.

"He's leaving town and me behind." I replied. "I know that we're not really friends, but could you give me a hug?"

So I figured it would be best to introduce Anna early since Mary won't be around during Bloodlines. Also the breakup happened which will be followed by the makeup in the next chapter. Please don't forget to review.


	10. Make Me A Woman

In the morning, I got out of the shower and changed into a purple turtleneck and black leather skirt. I was reading Jonathan Gilbert's journal and found out that he must have known about the vampires. I also found this drawing that he did and decided to get out my old sketchbook. I had kind of been obsessed with drawing hot vampire guys and sexy werewolves. I started to draw, trying to sketch Stefan. I wished that he was here so I could have an easier time. I didn't understand how he could just leave me. If not for the fact that I had nothing, I would probably be drunk right now.

I basically had two options for things that I could do. I could go to the school and set up for the career fair or I could go to the library and work on my paper some more. I guess there was the third option of trying to get Stefan to take me back, but I didn't have a lot of hope for that happening.

"Was that your sketchbook that I saw?" Jenna asked me as I went downstairs. I blushed as I grabbed a bagel from the counter.

"So I've been drawing a little." I responded. "I need something to do now that Stefan dumped me and told me that he's moving."

"Where is he going?" She asked.

"I don't know and I don't think that he's going to tell me." I responded as we both went out the door.

"Yours leaves and mine comes back." She explained.

"You saw Logan last night?" I questioned.

"Yeah, but I didn't let him past the front door." She told me.

"You can't ever see him again." I responded. "He's hurt you too many times and need to delete him."

"I've got it." She declared.

I decided to go to the library and I happened to find that Anna was there.

"So how is the paper going?" She asked me.

"Well I found that journal and found out that the guy who wrote it was a nutcase that believed in vampires." I answered.

"Maybe he was onto something." She stated. "I bet I can find some research that proves that vampires exist."

"He might have just been using vampires as an allegory for the Union soldiers." I declared. "I mean they attacked at night and were considered demonic by the confederates."

"How are you failing this class?" She questioned.

"I didn't do my homework or go to class." I declared.

"Still, I am going to find proof and you are going to help me." She told me. "I've actually some research into such a thing because I am weird. Look at this. Every few years there are a number of animal attacks. It can't just be a bunch of stupid people in the woods and how exactly do you explain the one that happened at the school?"

"Well I think that you might just be as crazy as he was." I teased her. I then noticed that she was pretty close to me. She actually grabbed me and pulled me into a kiss. I wasn't expecting that.

"Sorry." She apologized.

"I am not gay." I told her. "I can introduce you to someone who is. My sister likes girls."

"I still shouldn't have done that." She told me.

"Don't worry about it." I assured her. "I like to think of it as an affirmation that you think that I'm hot, which I kind of need after my boyfriend dumped me last night. I don't really want to go into it now."

"Well if you want, I could come over tonight and maybe we could have a slumber party." She offered.

"It's tempting but I have this career thing at the school." I told her. "Maybe you should let me take a rain check. Anyway, I need to get going. I'll see you later."

I stepped outside and surprisingly, I happened to see Stefan.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"We need to talk." He replied. I hoped that he wasn't about to tell me goodbye. "There was a vampire attack last night. A female victim was found just down the street from you."

"Are you sure it wasn't Damon?" I questioned.

"Damon's been trying to keep a low profile." He explained. "He wouldn't be obvious. I think that it's someone new because a vampire normally wouldn't be so careless unless there were trying to send a message. I can promise that I'll be in town at least until we deal with whoever it is that did it."

"Is there any chance that I could talk you into not leaving?" I questioned.

"No." He answered. "I can't stay here, Mary. I've caused too much trouble and I need to go, but I don't want to keep any more secrets from you. You deserve honesty."

I sighed and decided to head home. I could definitely get to work on writing. I think that I had most of the information that I needed. I walked into the house and noticed that Elena had a guitar. Uncle John had taught her how to play when she was younger, but it had been so long.

"What are you doing with that?" I asked her.

"I thought that maybe I could write songs." She explained. "I may not be the greatest singer, but you don't have to be to write. I was going to see if there was anything at the career fair about it. So do you still draw by any chance?"

"I don't know." I replied. "There was something that I want to talk to you about. I met this girl yesterday and she likes girls. Do you think that you might be ready to date again?"

"How do you know that she likes girls?" My sister asked.

"She might have kissed me." I answered with a blush.

"Seriously?" Elena asked as she began to giggle. "A girl kissed you?"

"I'm hot. Girls can kiss me if they want." I responded. "I happen to find it very flattering."

"You sound gayer than I am right now." She teased me. "So how are things with Stefan?"

"They're not." I declared. "I don't want to talk about it."

That night, I went to the school and began to check out the various booths of the career fair. I went towards the art booth and happened to notice that Tyler was there.

"What?" He asked me.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised to see you here." I told him. "Art generally implies culture and culture implies not you."

"Why don't you look at who drew these?" He suggested as I noticed the name Tyler Lockwood signed on them.

"Why didn't you ever tell me that you liked to draw?" I questioned angrily.

"It never came up." He responded. "Seriously, what do you want because I have better things to do than listen to you insult me all night."

Before I could say anything, I happened to notice that Stefan had walked over. Tyler decided that he didn't want to be around us and he walked away.

"You know you don't seem like someone that really needs to plan your future out." I quipped. "That could only mean one thing. You're here for me."

"I hope that's alright." He declared.

"As long I get to be near you, I'm not complaining." I stated. "So what would you be if you weren't well you know?"

"I wanted to be a doctor." Stefan remarked as we walked through some of the tables. "After everyone happened, I just couldn't."

"Yeah that seems like it would be the worst possible job for you." I agreed.

"I've dabbled in some other things over the years." He added.

"Did you not find anything that you liked enough to stick with?" I questioned. I wasn't upset that he hadn't because then I wouldn't have met him.

"I loved all of it but I had to move on before people realized that I wasn't getting older." He explained. "The longest that I could stay was usually 10 years. So, how about you? What did you want to be?"

"It doesn't matter." I snapped at him. "If you're not going to be here, why do you even care?"

"You'd be better off without me in your life." He stated. I was about to say something when Jenna came over to us.

"Hide me." She begged as she crouched down behind me.

"What are you doing?" I questioned.

"The motherfucker is here." She explained.

"Logan?" I asked. Well, I guess it made sense. He was a reporter and if anyone wanted advice on how to break into the field of journalism, they would probably need to talk to him.

"Wait, Logan Fell?" Stefan asked in confusion. There was some kind of subtext to that. Jenna nodded and he ran out into the hallway. About a minute later, Jenna and I followed him.

"Stefan, what the fuck?" I questioned.

Logan then walked over to us with a smug smile.

"Jenna, are you dodging me?" He asked.

"It's a form of self-preservation." My aunt replied.

"Mary, why don't go and take Jenna somewhere else." Stefan suggested. There was definitely something up and I needed to figure out what. I did as Stefan said and took her to the gym.

"What was Logan like when he came over last night?" I questioned.

"He was his usual self: charming, smarmy, entitled." She answered.

"Jenna, I'm serious. Did he do anything strange?" I asked her. I was beginning to form some suspicions, especially since the attack happened near the house.

"He was a little more manic than usual and he kept trying to get me to invite him in." She explained. That confirmed it.

"Jenna, I want you to never let him into the house." I instructed. "You should never even see him again."

"Jenna, Mary, it's good to see you two." Mr. Saltzman interrupted. I figured that this was a good distraction.

I then went to find Stefan because I was angry at him. I found him outside with a phone in his hand. I wondered if he had been talking to Damon.

"So is there anything you wanted to say to me Mr. I Didn't Tell You Logan's A Vampire?" I asked.

"When we were looking for Vicki, Logan came hunting for us. He was ready to kill me, but Damon killed him first. I don't know who turned him."

"Well we need to get him away from all of these people." I proposed. "Let's go back inside."

We went inside and decided to ask the first person that we saw, who happened to be Matt.

"Hey, have you seen Logan Fell the news guy?" I asked him.

"Yeah, he was giving Caroline a ride home." Matt answered.

"Stay here." Stefan told me. I figured it was a good idea to listen to him for a change.

About half an hour later, he returned.

"Well?" I asked him.

"She's okay. She only knows that Logan attacked her." He explained.

"What about Logan?" I followed.

"Damon was dealing with him." He replied. I assumed that meant killing. "Now do you see why we can't be together?"

At that point, I noticed Elena.

"Do you think I can take your car to give Stefan a ride home?" I asked her before she handed over the keys.

"I can get there on my own." He replied. I just looked at him. "Okay, let's go."

I drove to the boarding house and parked in the driveway. He stayed in the car for a minute.

"So why are you really leaving?" I asked him. "If it's about all of this supernatural stuff, I can handle it. I can handle that you're a vampire and your brother killed like 10 people since he got here and that I still have a scar from where Vicki bit me. You want to know what I wanted to be when I grew up? I wanted to be a doctor too. Even though I love to draw, I wanted to help people like my dad did, but I don't know if I'd really want to spend such a long time getting a degree. After the accident happened, I was a wreck. I drank way too much and without you I wouldn't be able to get through my life."

"I can't." He replied as I got out of the car.

I got out and followed him and grabbed onto him and kissed him. I was not going to let him walk away from me.

The kiss seemed to do the trick because it got him going as he began to kiss back. We went into the house, parting only in brief instances for me to breathe. I knew where this was going and I wanted it. I then noticed that veins were forming under his eyes and he pulled away, but I was not going to let anything stop this. I was too horny for that. I grabbed onto him and got him to look at me.

"Stefan, it's okay. I told you that I don't care." I assured him. "I love you for all that you are, even this part."

He then started kissing me again and we headed upstairs and to his room. We slowly began to take off each other's clothing before he laid me down on the bed. Whereas sex with Tyler was rough and wild, sex with Stefan was soft and tender and he really knew how to make me feel good. It went on for a solid half hour.

Once we were done, he was wearing a pair of black pants and I had his navy blue shirt on over my underwear as we cuddled on the bed.

"I've never been in your room before." I told him.

"Well it hasn't changed much over the years." He explained. "Every memory that I ever thought was worth keeping is in here."

"Well I think that it's very you." I told him as I looked around.

"Do you want some water?" He asked me.

"Sure." I replied before he got up. I decided that I would get up too and look around. I was looking for any old pictures. I did happen to find one, but it wasn't of him. It was of Katherine…who looked just like Elena. This was a huge secret that he hadn't told me. I threw my necklace on the dresser and got dressed before headed out to the car.

I began to drive home. All of was going smoothly until I noticed a man in the road. I honked my horn but he didn't move and I hit him, flipping the car in the process. Elena was going to kill me. I then looked at the man and noticed he was getting up and screamed.

So you may have seen Anna kissing Mary. And she freaked over Stefan not telling her the secret, but they did have sex. Now she's going to Georgia with Damon. Please don't forget to review.


	11. Make Me Have Fun

I began to drive home. All of was going smoothly until I noticed a man in the road. I honked my horn but he didn't move and I hit him, flipping the car in the process. Elena was going to kill me. I then looked at the man and noticed he was getting up and screamed.

He started to walk toward me. There had to be nothing scarier than being trapped in a car while someone who can kill you slowly walks toward you, though he'd probably have to get me out first. His feet came across me before he suddenly ran away and I saw another pair of shoes that I was sure I had seen before.

"Are you okay?" Damon asked me. They were his shoes.

"I'm stuck." I declared.

"Hold on." He stated as he ripped me out of the car. "Maybe you shouldn't be driving."

"Thank you." I told him before I fell unconscious.

When I woke up, I was in Damon's car and we were driving. It was morning.

"Morning." He greeted me. It looked like I wouldn't be going to school

"Where are we?" I questioned as I looked at the unfamiliar surroundings. We were far from Mystic Falls, that I knew.

"Georgia." He drawled.

"Damon, I can't go to Georgia." I responded.

"Too late, you're already here." He responded. I sighed.

"Stop the fucking car." I ordered.

"You know you're without that magic necklace. I could easily make you agreeable." He stated. Why did I think it was a good idea to take that off?

"Will you please stop it?" I begged. That got him to listen and he pulled over. I got out of the car feeling sore. I hunched over.

"Are you okay?" He asked me as he grabbed me. "You don't any injuries."

"Can we please go back?" I requested.

"We're almost there." He argued.

"Where is there?" I questioned.

"It's this place just outside of Atlanta." He explained before my phone started ringing, and it seemed to be coming from my pocket.

"Why do you have my phone?" I asked angrily.

"It's your boyfriend." He told me as he took it out. I knew that from the tone. "Mary's phone. Yeah, she's fine and she's right here."

He tried to hand it to me, but I shook my head.

"She doesn't want to talk right now." Damon continued. "You have a good day."

He hung up and looked at me.

"So what are you fighting about now?" He asked.

"He promised no more secrets, but he neglected to show me what Katherine looked like." I explained. "Let's just go to this place already."

We ended up going to a place called Bree's Bar. Thank God. I needed a drink.

"Compel whoever you need to get me in." I replied.

"There's no need." He stated as we just walked in.

"It can't be. Damon?" The bartender asked as she jumped over the bar and came over and kissed his mouth.

A few minutes later, we were seated at the bar. Bree poured a round of shots and even gave me one. She seemed confident that she wouldn't get arrested.

"Attention, I'd like to call a toast to the worst person in the world that has prevented me from loving anyone." She declared. That seemed like a very strange thing to toast to. I downed mine before Damon could steal it.

"So how did you meet?" I asked.

"College." Bree answered.

"You went to college?" I asked in surprise.

"I've been around a college campus a few times in my life." He declared.

"I was a sweet young freshman in '89 when I met this bad boy. You told me his little secret and I loved him more. Then I showed him mine."

"Witch." Damon said, pointing at her. I had kind of figured that out.

"So how'd you meet this one?" She asked him. "Please tell me that you're not sleeping with her. She's kind of jailbait."

"Ew." I responded in disgust.

"She's a friend." He answered. That was a bit of a stretch.

I then noticed my phone was ringing. It was Elena. I was not going to like this. I decided to go outside to take it.

"Hello?" I asked nervously.

"Where are you and more importantly, where is my car?" She asked. It was good to know that she had her priorities straight.

"Your car is kind of…dead." I stated. "As for where I am, it's hard to explain. I'm sorry. I'll be home soon."

"You wrecked my car?! You're buying me a new one and then I'm going to kill you." She yelled. I had never heard her so angry before. I decided to hang up before I noticed that Stefan was calling me again. I sighed and answered it.

"What Stefan?" I asked.

"Where are you? Tell me and I'll come get you." He requested.

"You lied to me about Katherine." I pointed out.

"No, I didn't." He declared.

"So that wasn't her that looks like Elena?" I questioned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'll explain everything. Just tell me where you are." He replied. I decided to just hang it up at point.

I then saw Damon standing in front of me.

"Don't say anything." I told him as we went back inside the bar. "I'm hungry and you better be prepared to buy."

We went inside and I had no idea what to get, so I decided to let him decide. We both got a burger and fries. I couldn't help but wonder if he liked his rare.

"So do you have any idea why Elena looks like Katherine?" I asked as I chomped on my pickle.

"I don't know but it's kind of creepy." He stated.

"Is Elena part-vampire or something?" I questioned.

"No, vampires can't procreate as much as we'd like to try." He told me. "For them to be related, Katherine would have had to have a child before she was turned."

"It's really fucked up how Stefan never told me about it." I declared.

"Well if you were my girlfriend, I would have been upfront with you about it." He told me. "Not that I'd want you to be my girlfriend or anything."

"How can you hold onto hope that she'll even still remember you?" I questioned.

"Vampires have really good memories." He told me. "I just have to find another way to get inside and let her out."

"Stefan didn't really make it sound like she should be let out." I remarked. "I think you should ask yourself if you really want it."

"I want it." He responded as I finished my burger.

"Then I won't argue as long as I'm not wearing vervain." I replied as Bree gave him another beer. "Can I have one?"

Bree just smiled and gave one to me. She probably had some spell to make it so she couldn't get arrested for serving minors. I grabbed the bottle and I took a drink from it. I wanted to get really drunk today. I think that Damon liked having someone that he could drink with. I wondered if he and Stefan were ever like that.

I then noticed that I was getting another call. This time it was Anna. I answered it.

"Hi." I said.

"Hey, you weren't at school today." She told me.

"I know, I'm…away right now." I declared.

"So I met your sister and she's a total babe, but she said no when I asked her out." She explained.

"Well keep trying. I'm sure she'll say yes eventually." I suggested.

"Did you ever find that journal that I was talking about?" She asked.

"I did and I even finished the paper, but I don't have it with me right now." I answered.

"Well I guess I'll see you whenever you get back." She replied before she hung up.

I did really hope that we would get back soon. I did like it here, but I also wanted to go home, but I didn't know what Damon was doing. I knew that I had to go with him because it wasn't safe for me to take the bus by myself and I also didn't have any money on me. I didn't want to go because I wasn't drunk yet. I went back inside and saw that Bree was ready to starting a drinking contest. That seemed like a good way to make money.

Bree poured some shots and I ended up winning the first few rounds with ease. I watched as she poured another and prepared myself for it. For the first time in a long time, I was having fun and I didn't want to go home yet, partly because I didn't want anyone to see me like I was right now. They'd probably think that I was the problem child yet again, even though I didn't really care what they thought about me. I hoped that they weren't planning an intervention.

"Ready, set, go!" Bree remarked as I downed my glass. It wasn't about how much you could drink, but how fast and I was very good at drinking fast. I threw my hands in the air in victory. I then reached onto the table and collected my money. I probably had enough for the ride home by now, but like I said, I wasn't interested in going home.

"How does it feel to lose?" I asked Damon.

"I was never interested in finishing my drinks fast." Damon told me. I just made my fingers into an L and held them in the air. "You know you're a sore winner."

I decided to go to the bathroom and I realized that I really wanted to go home. I went outside and began to cry. I could really be a weepy drunk at times. I then heard the phone begin to ring once again and answered, wondering why everyone wanted to talk to me today.

"Hello?" I answered, not looking to see who was calling me.

"Mary, where the hell are you?" Jenna asked me angrily. So in addition to wanting to talk to me, everyone also wanted to know where I was. It was very annoying.

"I'm somewhere." I answered. I wasn't exactly sure of my exact coordinates myself. I decided to see if I could find the address on the building. Then I was suddenly grabbed from behind. I dropped my phone and struggled against the vampire who had grabbed me.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He told me. That didn't exactly make me feel better. "I need you to get someone else here."

"Who?" I asked before he disappeared. I then realized that Damon would come looking for me. He was setting a trap for Damon for some reason.

I decided to consider my options. I didn't think that I would be able to run because he was faster and he could compel me, which I definitely didn't want. It looked like the best idea was to stay and wait for Damon and hope that he would be able to stop this guy. I couldn't believe that I was trusting Damon. He was likely the lesser of two evils, or maybe Damon was the bad guy and this guy was the good guy and I was starting to confuse myself and decided it would be a good idea to stop. He finally showed up after a few minutes.

"Damon, it's a trap." I told him before the vampire started to beat on him with a stick. If it weren't for the fact that he was my ride home, I might have enjoyed watching it.

"Why are you doing this?" I questioned.

"He killed my girlfriend." The man explained before beating on him some more. "What did she do to you? What did she do to you?!"

"I don't understand." I stated. Damon probably did kill her but he killed a lot of people.

"She went to visit Stefan on his birthday." He explained. Oh…

"You can't kill him." I told him. "Lexi must have thought you were a good person and she wouldn't want you to go after revenge. I'm sorry for your loss but killing Damon won't bring her back. It might make you feel better for a little bit, but at the end of the day, you'll feel empty inside. You need to try to move on and live your life."

He then grabbed Damon and threw him into the metal warehouse. He didn't say anything and ran off. I had just convinced someone not to murder someone.

We then went back to the bar where I began to feel queasy.

"I'm gonna hurl." I told him.

"Not in the car." He stated before I leaned over and began to puke on the ground. Damon went inside and when he came out, his hands were covered in blood. I didn't even want to know because I felt really sleepy. I was going to have a really bad hangover in the morning.

In the morning, we were almost in Mystic Falls and I woke up with a headache. Damon looked at me with a smirk.

"I happen to know a guaranteed way to get over you hangover." He told me before he bit into his wrist and shoved it in my mom. I coughed as some of it went down. I did begin to feel better.

"Damon!" I shouted.

"You're not going to die if that's what you're worried about." He told me. "Thank you for what happened last night."

"I wouldn't have had a ride home if I didn't." I declared. "There was no way I could have driven home since I didn't even know where we were. Don't mistake it as me caring."

He then took me to the boarding house. Once I was there, I met Stefan. I supposed that I needed to talk to him.

"I need to talk to you." He told me.

"Okay, let's talk about you said that you weren't going to lie to me." I declared.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't know how to tell you." He stated.

"Why does Elena look like Katherine?" I questioned.

"The first time that I saw her was the day of the accident. I thought that maybe she was Katherine, but I spend several weeks determining that she wasn't, so I dug into your family history. I thought that maybe Elena was adopted, but she wasn't." He explained.

"No one knew how she got out of the car. You saved her. Why didn't you save my parents too?"

"I went back for them but it was too late." Stefan stated. "I found out something out. Elena wasn't adopted, but you were."

I finally got home and Jenna was pissed at me.

"Am I adopted? I have some right to be mad at you." I told her. "I'm the bad child. I do things that don't make you proud, but I at least know why now."

So, Mary is adopted and Elena isn't. Katherine is related to Miranda, not Isobel. It makes sense since she has blonde hair like John. Plus, she got really drunk and Anna still made an appearance. Please don't forget to review.


	12. Make Me Dance

I was in Stefan's room after we had officially made up. We were currently laying completely-clothed on his bed.

"So what do you know about that vampire who was in the road?" I asked.

"Did you see his face?" He asked me.

"No, it was dark, and he was wearing a hoodie." I pointed out. "Did Damon say anything?"

"No. I got you something." He replied before he grabbed a box. "This is vervain. It's the same stuff in your necklace."

I had since put it back on because I was stupid to ever take it off. I looked through.

"So you can put it in jewelry or food or drink and I made bracelet for Elena." Stefan added.

"There's so much to remember." I declared.

"I know it's a lot, but as long as it's on you or in you, vampires can't get inside of your head." He explained. He then presented me with…my dad's watch. "I also have this for you."

"You found this? I was looking everywhere for it." I responded in joy. "Where was it?"

"Well Logan must have stolen it from you and Damon stole it from him and I stole it from him." He told me.

"Why does it look different?" I inquired as I opened it.

"Because it's not just a watch." He answered. "It's also a compass that points to vampires. It will prevent them from sneaking up on you as long as you have it."

"So do you want to talk about the other night, as in the part before I ran away?" I questioned. "You probably have a lot more experience than me."

"Mary, you don't have to worry about that. There's no one else I'd want to do it with more than you. So do you want to get dinner?" He requested.

"No, Elena and I were going to get pizza." I stated. "Do you think you could help pay to get her a new car?"

"I'll see you soon." He told me as he kissed me. He didn't answer the question.

Later that night, I was editing my paper and waiting for the pizza guy. I heard the doorbell and answered it.

"That's going to be $22.00." He told me.

"Elena, I need the money!" I called upstairs. "So, you can come in and put it here."

He stepped into the house and put it down while I went to save my work.

The next day, I went to school dressed in a cream-colored pleated miniskirt with black tights and heels along with a blouse consisting of cream and white with many black patterns on it. I turned in my paper to Mr. Saltzman.

After school, Anna and I went to the Grill. I needed to tell someone else about and Anna was really the only friend I had of my own. I could have borrowed Elena's friends, but they might tell her and I wasn't ready for that just yet. I still needed to find more about it from Jenna.

"So, I found out that I'm adopted." I told her. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."

"Well you parents probably would have told you eventually." She explained.

"But when I looked at my birth certificate, it said Greyson and Miranda Gilbert were my parents." I declared.

"Well people with money have ways of taking care of things." She pointed out.

"I guess that my dad being a doctor would be easy to manipulate." I agreed. "So has anything exciting happened to you? Were you going to go to this dance by any chance?"

"I probably was going to go." She explained. "I even had this costume planned. I was thinking of dressing as June Carter."

"She was the one that was played Reese Witherspoon, wasn't she?" I asked.

"Yes, and Reese won an Oscar for playing her." She added. "Did you have an outfit in particular that you were going for?"

"I want to dress as Grace Kelly." I replied. I realized that I should ask Stefan if he ever met her. I knew that he and Lexi were pretty tight with Bon Jovi, so it's a not a stretch that he could have other celebrity friends.

The next day at school, Mr. Saltzman put my paper on my desk with an A on it as I was leaving class.

"Yes, thank you." I told him.

"It's a good essay, but you don't actually think that there are vampires in Mystic Falls, do you?" He asked.

"No, I mean there have been a lot of animal attacks here." I lied.

"That's conjecture." He pointed out as I put it in my backpack. "But it's creative so that's why you got the A. Just don't get caught up in the conspiracy aspect of it."

"I won't." I promised. There was no need for conspiracy when you know it's true.

"Oh, and Mary, that source you cited: Jonathan Gilbert's journal, I'd really like to read it." He added.

"Why?" I questioned with a grin.

"A first-person account of the Civil War is like porn for a history teacher." He explained with a chuckle.

"Well if you liked my essay, wait till you read this guy." I declared as I took the journal out and handed it to him.

"Thank you." He told me as I walked away. I needed to find Stefan and ask him a favor. I found him by his locker.

"Hey I need a favor from you." I replied.

"What is it?" He asked me curiously.

"So my English grade is kind of…not good." I stated. "My teacher did agree to give me extra credit, but I'd have to man the punchbowl, which wouldn't give us many chances to dance. That's why I was wondering if you could have a one-on-one chat with her, if you know what I mean."

"You want me to compel her?" He responded and I nodded.

"I know it doesn't seem right, but I've been trying harder." I told him. "I just got off to a bad start, but I promise I'll get an A next semester."

"Okay, but this is the only time that I'm doing this." He remarked.

"Thank you. I love you." I responded as I gave him a hug. "I promise."

I went to meet Anna at the Grill after school, hoping that Stefan was taking care of things.

"So how did the paper go?" She asked me.

"I got an A. Thanks for the help." I answered. "So do you want to come over to my house and maybe we can get ready for the dance together?"

"I don't think so." She told me. "I have this plan and my mom wants to take pictures and it's going to be complicated. You'd be better off getting ready by yourself."

When I got home, I began to get dressed in a dress with a black V-neck bodice and a flowing white skirt. It was basically what she wore in _Rear Window_, one of the best movies of the 50s. I even curled my hair to look like hers. I had to watch the movie three times to get it right. I then heard that the compass was making sounds like it was moving.

I decided to call Stefan to see what I should do.

"Stefan's phone." Damon answered. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to talk to him.

"Where is he?" I questioned.

"He's on his way to you and forgot his phone." Damon explained. How could he go anywhere without his phone?

"Well this compass has been going off, so it must be sensing him." I stated as I went downstairs.

Suddenly, I felt a pair of teeth in my neck. I screamed before Stefan appeared. The vampire ran out and I took some deep breaths.

Stefan quickly called Damon over as I realized who had attacked me. It was the pizza guy.

"How did he get in?" Damon asked.

"I invited him." I explained, still freaking out with my hands shaking.

"He posed as a pizza delivery guy." Stefan added.

"Well he gets points for that." Damon commented. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No, he was too busy trying to kill me." I snapped. "I don't know what to do."

"Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company." Damon replied. He hadn't told me that.

"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan remarked. Yes, we knew that.

"It looks like we have to kill him." Damon stated. I looked at him. "He's been invited in. As long as he's alive, this house isn't safe…for anyone who lives in it."

"What do I do?" I questioned.

"You're going to let your boyfriend take you to the dance." Damon answered as he gave me an ascot to wear around my neck. "If he shows up, we can kill him there."

Once I got to the dance, I noticed Jenna was there and I decided that I was ready to talk to her.

"So, what can you tell me?" I asked.

"Your dad was getting off work when a girl with blonde hair about 17 came in ready to give birth. She was a runaway and he was going to set her up somewhere, but in the morning she was gone and you were there. So they took care of things and wrote their names down and told as few people as possible." She explained.

"Do you know anything about her?" I questioned.

"Just a name: Isobel." She replied.

I then noticed Damon by Caroline and Bonnie. Both of them quickly walked away from him since they had reason to hate him.

"Your ability to drive women away from you is impressive." I quipped.

"Mary, would you like to dance?" He asked.

"Yes…with Stefan." I declared as I took my boyfriend to the dancefloor.

I began to dance around him even though I was really bad at it and I didn't know how girls in the 50s danced.

"So you need to dance with me so I look less silly." I told him. "I mean you were alive in the 50s. I don't know anything about it other than some movies that I've watched. So what can you tell me about it?"

"Well there was segregation, McCarthyism, and the Cold War." He explained.

"I knew that. I want the good stuff." I replied with a frown.

"Well it was a lot of fun." He admitted.

"Teach me how to swing dance." I requested. He grabbed me quickly and spun me around before he dipped me.

"Now you need to savor this memory, because it's never going to happen again." He stated with a playful smile.

I then decided to go over by the punchbowl where Anna was working and Elena was standing.

"So, I see that you two have met." I noted. "Do you like each other?"

"Anna's cool." Elena remarked before she walked off.

"So, things haven't been easy." Anna declared.

"Well, be persistent." I instructed. "So you look nice."

"Thanks, you too." She replied. "So since you're done with that journal, do you think that I can borrow it?"

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman." I explained as I took a glass and headed back to Stefan. We happened to notice Damon dancing with Tina Fell, a girl in my grade.

"You can't take him anywhere, can you?" I questioned. "Also was song from the 50s?"

"No to both. It came out in '62." He replied before I noticed someone standing in the corner wearing a hoodie. He was here.

"Stefan, back corner." I declared, pointing at him.

Stefan went after him and I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom. I walked off in that direction.

"Hello, Mary." Pizza Guy declared and I suddenly realized that I needed to run. I began to head to the cafeteria. I needed something wooden. All I could find was some pencils. He grabbed me and I stabbed him in the eye. It wouldn't kill him, but it did give me enough time to escape him. I grabbed a mop and broke it over the table. I went over to him, but he knocked it away and once again Stefan came to my rescue.

"Hey, Dickhead." Damon interrupted. "No one wants to kill you. We just want to talk."

Well, actually we wanted to talk and then kill him. He made a break for me, but Stefan grabbed him and jammed the stake into his stomach.

"So now, why are you after Mary?" Damon questioned. I would have predicted the good cop-bad cop thing to be reversed to be honest.

"Because it's fun and I need to something to do until we get Katherine out of the tomb." He explained.

"You knew Katherine?" Damon asked him in surprise.

"You think you were the only one?" Pizza Guy rebutted. "You don't even remember me."

"How do you open the tomb?" I demanded. He said nothing, so Stefan stabbed him again.

"The grimoire, Emily Bennett's: the location is in Jonathan Gilbert's journal." He grunted. That was kind of unfortunate.

"Who are you working with?" Damon questioned. That would be good to know.

"I'm not telling. You're going to have to kill me." He responded, and Stefan did.

"We needed him to tell who he was working with." I pointed out.

"Mary, we needed to kill him. He was invited in." Stefan pointed out.

"Well I'm going to say goodbyes before we head home." I stated.

I went back into the gym and found Anna. I was still panting.

"Why are you so out of breath?" She asked me curiously.

"I'm just tired out from all of that dancing." I lied. "Did you get a chance to dance with anyone by any chance?"

"No, and I didn't see you there that much." She replied. I had to come up with something quick.

"Well I was off somewhere more intimate with my boyfriend." I lied.

"Okay, gotcha, say no more." She told me with a grin.

"So I was gonna get out of here. I'll see you later." I remarked.

"Do you think that maybe I could sleep over tomorrow night?" She questioned suddenly.

"Sure." I said. "I'd have to ask my aunt first, but she'd probably be okay with it."

I then went back to Stefan who took me home and gave me some tea.

"So I felt so empowered when I was holding that stake." I told him as he sat next to me.

"There's something that you need to know." He responded. "I told Damon that I would help him open the tomb, but I was lying."

"Okay, I don't want to release 27 vampires into this town." I remarked. "You know even though my house is safe, do you think I can sleep over at yours tonight?"

So the first thing to know is Isobel is played by Anna Paquin to look more like Mary. And she ended up getting closer to Noah than she wanted. Please don't forget to review.


	13. Make Me A Promise

The following morning, I woke up in Stefan's bed, naked. I was glad to be there. I wanted some good old-fashioned morning cuddling. It was still something that I had never had since I hadn't spent the night over at Tyler's before. It felt really good and I could definitely see why people liked it.

"Good morning." I greeted Stefan with a smile as I noticed his eyes were open. He didn't say anything and just put his hand on something intimate of mine.

"Rise and shine you two." Damon interrupted. I jumped and covered myself with the sheets in embarrassment.

"Damon, what the fuck?" I responded with a deep red blush on my face.

"Oh stop being smutty." The older Salvatore stated.

"Seriously, get out of here." Stefan ordered.

"If I see anything that I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." He remarked. That didn't make me any more comfortable. I also hoped that it meant that he had seen me naked without me knowing it. "Now get up. We have much to do today?"

"Does it have to be right now?" I asked in exasperation as I pulled the covers up. Why couldn't I have at least been wearing underwear.

"If you want to give the other person in the race a leg up then by all means, sleep away." Damon told me.

"Do we have any idea who this person is?" Stefan questioned.

"No, and I don't like that." Damon answered. "That means that we have to find the grimoire and to find that we have to find the journal. So you are Mary _Gilbert_, you're on journal duty."

"When did I say that I was helping?" I asked.

"Well Stefan is helping and you've taken residency in Stefan's bed, so ergo…" Damon replied.

"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to." Stefan assured me.

"I'll get it today." I promised as I laid down on a pillow.

"Perfect." Damon replied. "Now get up. We have much to do today. You know I'm really liking this whole ménage a trois that we have. Don't screw it up. Chop, chop."

Stefan then got up, but I grabbed him first.

"Were you getting in the shower?" I asked him. He nodded. "I'm coming with you."

After we were done with that, we headed back to my house because I wanted to put on some new clothes. I went with a sparkly black jacket over a black t-shirt with suede black stripes and black leather pants with black heels.

I decided to take Stefan to the kitchen just to see if there was anything else that might tell the location of the grimoire without having to bother Mr. Saltzman. I dug out some of the stuff that had been with the journal. I found a weird metal contraption.

"Is this what I think it is?" I asked.

"The Gilberts were one of the Founding Families that wanted to rid the town of vampires." He explained as he held up the muzzle. "Jonathan Gilbert was one of the leaders of the charge."

"So it doesn't look like anything's in here." I stated. "I guess that means that we have to get the journal."

"What are you guys doing in here?" Elena asked as she entered the kitchen.

"We were just looking through some old stuff." I explained. "So how is your love life going? I saw your new girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend." Elena declared as she sat up on the counter, which might not have been the best idea with the short skirt she was wearing.

"Well I think that you two could really be a good couple." I stated. "She's gay and so are you."

"Just because we have the same sexuality doesn't mean that we're compatible." Elena pointed out.

"Well I invited her to sleep over tonight, so maybe you can have a chance to talk to her." I offered before Elena walked away.

"You're having a sleepover tonight?" Stefan asked in surprise.

"It's just with this girl that moved here recently…that you haven't met. I'll introduce you some time." I promised. "So anyone I gave the journal to Mr. Saltzman. I guess that means that we have to try to get it from him today."

"I'm going to go to the school and see if he's there." Stefan declared.

"I think he'd trust me a lot more." I pointed out.

"That may be the case, but I don't really want you involved in any of this." He stated before he exited. He didn't even see the pout on my face. Since I didn't have any transportation and it was too cold to walk, I was stuck at the house. I really needed to talk to Jenna about opening the trust up so I could get a car for my birthday.

Since I was stuck at home, I decided to call Anna to see if she wanted to maybe come over early. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voicemail.

"Hey, Anna, it's Mary." I remarked. "I was just calling to see if you wanted to come over a bit earlier. Call me back when you get this message."

From there, I decided to take out my laptop and see what I could find out about Jonathan Gilbert. I first realized that the name was far more common than I expected. I found out that the most common result was an actor from the 70s and 80s. I then changed the search so it to read "Jonathan Gilbert, Mystic Falls Virginia 1864" and found out that he was a doctor and an inventor and also that he went crazy later in his life. It seemed that all of the obsessing over vampires must have driven him mad. I also found out that he was the last of the town's original settlers.

That night, I went downstairs to see Damon in my kitchen. He and Jenna were cooking dinner. Actually, he was cooking dinner and Jenna was sitting on the counter with a glass of wine, just like my mother used to. She also didn't like it when other people sat on the counter. She was kind of a hypocrite in that regard. I just hoped that it didn't mean that she and Damon were going to get together because even though I had given her this vervain perfume, the thought of it still made me extremely uncomfortable.

"Hey, we're cooking dinner." She greeted me. Again, the we was much overstated.

"Where's Stefan?" Damon asked me. I couldn't help wonder why it was taking so long myself. "He's missing family night."

"He'll be here." I promised as I noticed that Elena was sitting on the couch playing some video games.

Once dinner was ready, Jenna was changing her shirt because she spilled wine on it, so it was up to me and Damon to serve the food. He bumped me as I was getting some out.

"You it's still illegal." I declared.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.

"That move was deliberate." I pointed out as I set a plate on the counter. "I am still 15 and you know that."

"I was deliberately trying to get to the sink." He argued. "So this renewed since of brotherhood between me and Stefan, is any of it real?"

"Yes." I replied.

"Can I trust him?" The vampire then asked.

"You can trust him." I stated as I walked toward the table. He sped over to me.

"Can I trust him?" He asked me again slowly, looking me in the eye.

"I'm wearing vervain." I reminded him.

"I'm not compelling. I just want an honest answer." He declared.

"I'm starting to think that you have trust issues." I told him. "Stefan wants to help."

"There was a time where I trusted him more than anyone." He explained. He then told me this story from the past about how his father wanted to round up all of the vampires in town and that his father hated him. I couldn't help but realize that Stefan had never mentioned his dad to me.

After dinner, I still hadn't heard from Stefan and saw that Damon had joined in the video games with Elena, while Jenna and I did dishes. Why was he trying to get close to my family?

"He's so hot." Jenna whispered. I could practically hear Damon smirking.

"Shh, he's an asshole." I responded. To that, I was pretty sure that he rolled his eyes.

"So have you told Elena about anything yet?" Jenna asked me.

"I will." I promised. "I just need to figure out the correct way to do that. So is it okay if I have a friend stay over tonight?

At that moment, I decided to call Anna again, but it was busy.

"Yeah, I just wasn't really aware that you had many friends." She told me.

"She's new and I haven't had a chance to introduce her yet." I explained.

At that moment, I heard the doorbell ring.

"That's Stefan." I told her as I headed to the door and Damon did too. I went outside and noticed that he…didn't have the journal.

"He didn't have it." Stefan stated. "Someone stole it."

"Who took it?" Damon asked rhetorically. "I bet he does have it and just won't give it to you. There's something off about him."

"No, it wasn't him." Stefan responded. He seemed very sure about it. "It was someone else."

"Well who else did you tell about it?" Damon asked me accusingly. Someone else would have to know he had it.

"Well there was this girl that helped me with my paper, but I doubt she took it. She's just a nerdy girl with a crush on Elena."

Damon then went into the house and asked Elena about that and offered to take her to the Grill. So apparently, Anna had been calling Elena all night which was why I couldn't reach her and Elena hadn't been answering. They drove off leaving Stefan and I behind.

"I seriously think Damon is wrong." I stated. "Anna did not take it. We need to look somewhere else for it."

"There's no need. I've got it right here." Stefan said as he pulled out some pages. "Mr. Saltzman made copies and gave them to me."

"Okay, let's find out where the spell book is." I remarked as I took some of them. We began to read before I noticed something about Emily. "Here we go. I found it. The Fells thought it should I and not them who took the sorceress's spell book but I feared that she would haunt me from the hereafter. It was Giuseppe Salvatore that relieved my fear. He said that he would take the secret to his grave."

"I know where it is." Stefan replied. I was pretty sure that it wasn't a metaphor and it meant that it was literally buried with his dad. I just didn't know where his dad was buried. I guess that it was good that Stefan did. He wasn't buried in the cemetery or the Salvatore Family Crypt, but off an old country road. After some begging, I managed to convince Jenna to let me borrow her car if Stefan was the one to drive it.

"So why isn't your favorite buried in your family's tomb?" I asked curiously.

"It hadn't been built yet." Stefan answered. Yeah, I guess it made sense that they didn't want to dig him up. Plus it would be easier to hide the book that he was holding. We began to dig. "You know I can do this on my own, Mary."

"I'm helping with this." I declared sternly. "A lot of people are going to be affected by the tomb opening and it's not something that I can have right now."

We continued to dig until we reached the box. He opened it up and there was a skeleton holding a book in its hands.

"Well what do you know?" Damon asked. Where did he come from? "This is an interesting development."

"I'm sorry but I can't let you open that tomb." Stefan replied.

"And I'm sorry for too, for thinking that even for a second that I could trust you." Damon responded.

"You are not capable of trust." Stefan argued. "The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and were planning on doing it by yourself."

"Of course I'm doing it by myself because the only one that I can count on is me!" Damon shouted. "You made that clear a long time ago, but you on the other hand had me fooled. You know you better not try to destroy that book."

"What are you going to do about it?" He challenged. That seemed like a bad idea. Damon then grabbed me and wrapped his hands around my neck.

"Give me the book, Stefan." He demanded. I at that point wanted to side with Damon because I liked being not dead.

"You won't kill her." Stefan stated. I didn't really want to take that chance.

"No, but I will do this." Damon declared before he bit into his wrist and fed the blood into my mouth. "Give me the book, Stefan or you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."

"Let me Mary go first." Stefan instructed.

"You see the problem is that I no longer trust you, Stefan." Damon responded.

"You just did the one thing to insure that I'll give it you." Stefan told him. Damon let me go and Stefan left the book on the ground for Damon to pick up. I couldn't help but wonder how Damon figured out where the book was? Did Anna have it? Well I guess it was possible, but she could have just really wanted to read it.

After Damon left, I had Stefan give me a ride home. I needed something to drink to wash the taste of blood out of my mouth and I didn't care if it was alcoholic or not.

When we got home, I noticed that Jenna was downstairs as I began to raid the fridge.

"Your friend is here." She stated. "Elena brought her with and she's upstairs."

I decided to forego a drink and be a good hostess and went to greet her. I went up to my room where I imagined she would be. She wasn't.

"Anna?" I called for her. I then found her in front of me.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"For what?" I asked in confusion.

She didn't answer. Instead she just grabbed me and held me until I fell unconscious.

So Mary found out that Anna is a vampire. Will their friendship be able to survive the kidnapping? Will Anna and Elena ever start dating? Please don't forget to review.


	14. Make Me A Hostage

I woke up on a bed with a headache. I looked around and saw that this guy who worked at the Grill was sleeping in a chair. I couldn't understand why Anna had kidnapped me and I was genuinely surprised that she was a vampire. I honestly wasn't sure if I should wait for her to come back or I should try to run.

I decided that I would run because I didn't trust the guy from the Grill. I think he used to be a football star or something. I slowly crept through the room and made my way to the door.

"Don't move." He tried to compel me.

"Wow, you're an idiot." I told him as I kicked his shin and opened the door, only to find Anna.

"You're an idiot." She said as she grabbed me.

"I told her not to move. I did that eye thing." He argued.

"You forgot about vervain." Anna pointed out. I realized that she could have easily removed my necklace if she wanted to compel me, but she chose to leave it on, meaning she didn't want me compelled.

"Anna, what's going on?" I asked her. "Why are you doing this?"

She didn't say anything and shoved into the bathroom where I noticed that I wasn't the only hostage. Bonnie was in the tub unconscious. I went to wake her up.

"Mary, where are we?" She asked in confusion.

"We're in a hotel room." I explained.

"Oh my God, Ben is a vampire." She stated. So that was that guy's name.

"I know." I replied.

"What do they want with us?" She asked next.

"I think they want to open the tomb." I declared. I didn't know why, though I had a few guesses and none of them involved Katherine. "They need you to cast the spell. We found Emily's spell book."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" She questioned angrily.

"Because we weren't going to actually open it." I responded. "It looks like that's going to change now."

Then the door opened and Ben stood in the doorway.

"I'm not going to open the tomb." The witch declared adamantly.

"You can say that all you want, but we don't believe you." Ben replied before he grabbed me and threw me back into the room. I could walk on my own. "She wants to talk to you because she likes you."

The door closed and that left me with Anna.

"So why did you kidnap me?" I asked her. "Who's in the tomb that you want so bad? Is it your mother? I don't see her here."

"Yes, Jonathan Gilbert put her in there all because of Katherine's shenanigans. She kept turning people and feeding on the locals. She's the reason for everything that happened to them." Anna explained.

"You know you could have just told me the truth." I stated. "I want to help you get her out of there. You really didn't have to kidnap me to make it happen."

"How do I know that this isn't a trick?" She questioned.

"Because you're my friend." I told her.

"You know I don't understand you." She admitted before I noticed that she had my phone on the table. "We need to have a little chat with one of your boyfriends."

I didn't like Damon. I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would think that. I think that she was calling Stefan though. She put the phone on speaker.

"Mary, are you okay?" I heard Stefan ask. I don't think Anna wanted me to answer. I didn't even get the chance to.

"She's fine. Tell me that you have the grimoire and she'll stay fine." Anna replied.

"I can get it." Stefan responded.

"Which means that your brother has it." Anna finished. "I should have guessed that. You know you're girlfriend has agreed to help me and I have the witch. So I want one of you to meet me in the very public town square in half an hour so we can discuss how fun it's gonna be to work together."

Anna then hung up and handed my phone back to me. She grabbed her bag and stood up as Ben came out of the bathroom with Bonnie.

"Keep them here." Anna ordered. "Mary's not going to run, but you need to keep the witch here. Compulsion won't work. Just use violence."

"I don't suppose that you have a change of clothes for me, do you?" I asked. Everyone stared at me.

"If you really want something, you can look in my dresser." Anna stated before she left.

I decided to go through it and a put on a black see-through spotted blouse and a black leather dress. Anna sure did love the color black. I came out to see Bonnie and Ben.

"Are you seriously considering helping them?" Bonnie asked.

"No, I'm considering helping Anna." I responded. "This guy can fuck himself."

I noticed that he looked like he was ready to lunge at me.

"What are you going to do?" I challenged. "You know she wouldn't like it if you hurt me. She would probably kill you. That is if my boyfriend doesn't do it first."

"You know you don't scare me." Ben taunted. "You're just a little human."

I noticed that he was very close to me and I leaned forward and bit into his hand.

"Ow, let go of me you bitch." He cried. He threw me against the bed and then Bonnie threw some water on him and he began to catch fire. He shook it out and she began to run for the door. He tried to grab me but the door flew open and I noticed that Stefan was on the other side of it. Ben ran for cover as he began to burn. I could see that Stefan did not waste any time in trying to find me/us.

"Get outside." He instructed. I decided not to question him, even though I still wanted to help Anna.

From there we went to Bonnie's grandma's house. I was pretty sure that it was going to be the first time that I had officially met her. From what I gathered, she was a witch as well.

"How did you know where to find us?" Bonnie asked the old woman.

"A lot of things can fuel a witch's power: worry, anger. When Stefan told me that you had been kidnapped I had a lot of both. A simple locator spell was easy after that. I'm just glad that the two of you are alright." Sheila explained.

"You know this doesn't change anything." I replied. "Anna's still going to try to open the tomb and I don't want to stop her."

"Last night you told me that you were against opening it." Stefan pointed out.

"Yes, but that was before I knew that there was more than just Katherine in it." I argued. "I mean Katherine doesn't deserve to be out of the tomb, but Anna is, not was, my friend and I want her to get her mother back. Plus, maybe if we do get Katherine out, Damon will take her and go away forever."

"Okay, we'll do this." Sheila agreed. "I'll open the tomb and we'll get your friend's mom out and destroy the rest of with fire."

I was pretty sure that Damon wouldn't like that idea, but we could negotiate.

"We still have no guarantee that Damon will even give us the book." Stefan replied.

"Why don't you let me talk to him?" I questioned. "I think I can get through to him."

So that led to me going to the boarding house. On the way, I decided to call Anna.

"So are you still interested in opening the tomb?" I asked her.

"What do you think?" She snapped.

"There is just one that I want you to do in exchange for my help." I proposed.

"What's that?" She questioned.

"I want you to kill Ben." I remarked. "We'll be at the tomb tonight. Come alone if you're interested."

"You know most people would never talk their friend again if they found out that they lied about everything." Anna pointed out.

"Yes, but I'm kind of lacking in the friend department and can't be picky." I said before hanging up. I then walked into the house and the study where Damon was.

"Did you stage a jailbreak?" He asked me.

"Stefan." I replied.

"Ah, my brother, ever the white night." Damon quipped. "What do you want?"

"I want to open the tomb." I stated.

"That's nice." He told me.

"Damon, I seriously want to open the tomb." I repeated as I walked closer to him. "You were willing to let me help you yesterday."

"That was before I found out that you were a two-faced lying skank." He responded. I was not a skank!

"If you don't trust me, tell me why you didn't compel me in Atlanta. You could have made me do anything, but you didn't." I pointed out.

"How do you know that I didn't?" He challenged.

"I know that you didn't." I replied. "I remember everything and I absolutely know that you didn't compel me."

"I still don't trust you." He stated.

"Well then you can compel me to tell you the truth." I told him as I took my necklace off and gave it to him. "The only thing that I ask is that you don't make me kiss you."

He looked me over and then stepped behind me and put the necklace back around my neck.

"I didn't compel you in Atlanta because we were having fun." He stated before he poured me a shot of bourbon. "If you really want to believe you, we'll drink to it."

"Fine." I agreed as I drank from the cop. It was really strong.

"Just know that I'll kill you if you betray me again." He added. I definitely believed that, even though I might end up a vampire instead of being dead.

He then drove me to the cemetery and I noticed an unsettling number of cars.

"Why are all of this people here?" I asked. "It's not safe for them."

"That's your problem, not mine." Damon stated as Caroline walked over with Matt.

"Hey, Mary, where have you been? I was going to tell you about this." The blonde remarked.

"I was busy." I lied.

"We haven't met." Matt said to Damon as he held his hand out. "I'm Matt."

"Matt, there's a reason we haven't met." Damon remarked before he walked away and dragged me with him.

We then headed to the tomb by Fell's Church where Stefan, Bonnie and her grandma were.

"Brother, witches." Damon greeted them as we noticed them. I didn't see Anna anywhere. I hoped that she would show up. I also was feeling bit tipsy. There was a reason that I didn't drink whiskey.

"Let's just do this." I responded.

"Are you drunk?" Bonnie asked me.

"It was the only way that Damon would agree." I replied. "Let's open the tomb."

The two witches began to cast a spell in a language that I couldn't understand.

"Is that Latin?" Damon asked.

"No, it's not Latin." I replied as I attempted to listen.

"I'd going to go get the flamethrower." Stefan said as he went up the stairs. I then noticed that the door was opening.

"I can't believe that you started without me." Anna said as she came down the stairs. "I guess I will just go inside."

She walked in and then Damon grabbed me and prepared to take me in which led to some tension with the witches.

"Enough!" I shouted. "I'm going into the tomb with him, so shut up already."

As soon as I walked inside, he abandoned me. I looked around the scary tomb that reminded me of a zombie movie and also the alcohol was having an effect on me. I felt a sense of vertigo overtake me as I fell to the ground.

"I got you." Anna said as she held me up.

"Thanks." I told her. "Let's find your mom."

All of the vampires looked like zombies and I didn't know who any of them were so I just followed her.

"This is her." Anna replied. "You know I want to apologize for Noah did to you. I want you to know that I was against it."

"So what do we do now?" I asked. "How do we wake her up?"

"She needs your blood." Anna stated before she bit me without a warning. I screamed instinctively before she put my neck in her mom's mouth. Stefan apparently had heard my scream and pulled me away. I held the wound in my neck. I really needed to stop getting bitten.

"Don't hurt her." I told Stefan.

"Anna…" An unknown voice said. I looked over and saw it was her mother. I couldn't help but get misty-eyed as I noticed the tears of joy in Anna's before she gave her mother a tight hug.

"Thank you." Anna told me as she grabbed her mother and began to head toward the exit. "I hope that you still want to be friends with me."

"We need to find Damon." Stefan declared.

We walked down the halls and I tried to find him through my blurred vision. I began to hear his voice as Stefan headed forward.

"She's not here!" I heard him yell. Was Katherine not in the tomb? That didn't make any sense. I knew that I needed to get over to him because I couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

When I got to him, I couldn't help but noticed that he seemed to be in a mixture of a state of shock and denial. Stefan was trying to get through to him, but it was not working.

"Damon, we have to get out of here." I told him. "I'm sorry that she's not here, but we have to go now."

He grabbed my hand and we headed out the door. I noticed that Anna didn't seem to stick around. I would have to give her a call later.

I found that Elena was unconscious outside and figured that it would be a good idea to walk her home. I was pretty sure that I needed someone to lean on. I need to watch how much I drink with Damon. It could go badly.

"I don't know really know what happened." Elena told me. "I really didn't even drink that much."

Stefan had told me that Ben had attacked her and Anna actually had nothing to do with it. I also knew that Stefan had killed Ben. I didn't say anything because I really felt that I needed to go to bed. I started to undress, but didn't finish before I passed out.

So Mary and Anna are still going to be friends. It also looks like Damon wants her to be his drinking buddy, which could have some interesting results. Next chapter Mary finds out about her mother. Please don't forget to review.


	15. Make Me Find You

It was Saturday. It had been almost a week since the tomb was opened. Bonnie's grandma wasn't able to survive the spell that she cast. Apparently using too much magic can kill you. I had seen Anna at school, but not outside because her mom wanted her home right after it was done. She was still adjusting to the new millennium and I'm not sure how much Anna had told her. My not-blood-related family did kinda lock her in the tomb in the first place.

I decided to go outside and try to call her again. She hadn't been answering me. I wore a grey sweater with black leather leggings and a black derby. After several rings, there was no answer.

"What are you doing out here? It's cold." Jenna stated.

"I get better cell reception outside of the house." I remarked. "So you said that you were going to do some digging about the adoption. So tell me have you dug yet?"

"Come inside." She instructed. "I looked into your father's old files and found stuff from the night you were born and I was able to find out that you were officially born to a woman named Isobel Peterson."

"Is that her real name?" I questioned.

"For a teenage runaway, probably, but it might be her first name." Jenna explained. "Where did she get Peterson from though? Maybe it was a friend's name. So I Binged it."

She had to be the only person that I know who uses Bing over Yahoo! or Google.

"I looked up all of the Petersons and by the process of elimination, I came up with one: Trudie Peterson." She continued. She showed me a picture and there were two blondes. The one on the right was Trudie, meaning I was looking at a known picture of my mother. "I have number and address. She lives not far from here."

I took the paper and looked it over. Here was someone that knew my mother at some point.

"There's something else that you need to know." She added. "Alaric's wife was from around this area and was also named Isobel."

"Oh." I replied. I didn't say anything else and went up to my room, where I found Stefan at my window. I quickly let him in because I needed someone to talk to. The two of us got on my bed and I began to kiss him.

After our makeout session was over, I decided to share what I had found out.

"Alaric's wife might be your mother?" He repeated in surprise.

"I know right?" I responded. "It's so unbelievable that there's no way that it could possibly be true. Anyway I have this address and I'm not sure that I want to go there. You know I wouldn't mind if she was Alaric's wife because it would be easier to talk to him than a stranger."

"Well if you want to go see her, I'll come with you." He offered. That could work.

"I don't know." I responded. "The idea of you going with me is a little weird. I wish I could convince Anna to go with me."

"You know I don't like the idea of you still being friends with her." He stated.

"Stefan, I love you, but you don't get to decide who I can be friends with." I told him.

"I just want to remind you that she kidnapped you and lied to you." He pointed out.

"Well you lied to me too." I declared. "I'm going to be fine. I think her mom may have reservations . Do you know what she was like?"

"No." He responded. "So did Jenna ever tell you how Mr. Saltzman's wife died?"

"I know she was murdered and they never found the body." I declared as I brushed my hair. "How do they know she was murdered if there was no body? Did you know already about that?"

"He thinks a vampire may have killed her." He explained. "I still need to talk to him more, but I promised I would find out whom."

"Well I'd love to know that as well if it's true." I admitted. "I guess I'll see you later. Parting is such sweet sorrow."

"I will see you tonight, my Juliet." He responded with a grin.

A little bit later, I convinced Jenna to let me borrow her car to go to Grove Hill. It was a split-second decision and I still wasn't even sure if I wanted to go in. I knocked on the door, somewhat hoping that she wouldn't be home. I waited for a minute and turned to leave, but unfortunately the door opened.

"Are you Trudie Peterson?" I asked her."

"Yes." She answered. I needed to just say it already. It was so hard.

"I'm here to talk to you about Isobel Flemming." I remarked.

"I haven't heard that name in years. How do you know her?" She replied as I bit my lip.

"Well…do you know if had a…in high school did she…?" I stammered.

"Oh my God, you're her daughter." She replied in surprise. "I'm making some tea. Would you like some?"

"Sure." I declared as I stepped into the house, noticing a nervous look on her face for some reason.

"So I know this is a surprise. I was going to call first, but then I decided to just show up." I stated. "It's kind of fucked up."

"Well you are definitely Izzy's daughter. She had a sailor mouth too." She replied.

"When was the last time that you saw her?" I questioned.

"It was about sixteen years ago when she left to have you." She explained. So that basically told me that she wasn't living with her friend after running away from home. That made me wonder even more. If she didn't return home, where did she go? "We kept in touch for a little while, but we eventually lost touch. I know that she turned her life around and got into Duke and got married."

So that basically meant that somewhere out there, I had a stepfather. I wasn't sure if I wanted to meet him or not.

"You haven't touched your tea." She told me. I took a sip and couldn't help but cough at the strong taste.

"What is in this?" I questioned.

"It's a rare herb." She stated.

"Vervain?" I guessed. "You didn't invite me in and now you're giving me vervain. You know about vampires?"

I couldn't help but wonder what any of that stuff meant. Had she been lying to me or compelled?

"You need to leave." She commanded. "Now!"

I hurried out the door and couldn't help but notice a suspicious-looking man standing outside. I decided not to take any chances and got inside of the car and drove away as fast as I could.

When I got home, I found a different vampire was in my room. I gave her a tight hug.

"So I have about five minutes." She declared. "I told my mom I was getting some blood from the hospital. What did you do today?"

"Well I found out about my birth mother and that I have an unknown stepfather." I explained. "So how is your mom?"

"She's…adjusting." Anna answered. "I haven't told her about you. I don't think she'd be in favor of us being friends."

"I don't think anyone is in favor of us being friends." I replied as Jenna entered my room.

"Anna, I didn't know that you had come over." She said in surprise.

"I was actually just leaving. My mom wants me home soon." Anna replied as before she rushed out the door.

"So I have news." Jenna told me. "I talked to Ric and showed him the picture. His wife was your mother."

That was going to make class with him on Monday a lot more awkward.

"So I was about to head to the bachelor auction. Do you want to come with?" She asked.

"I was actually going with Stefan, which reminds me that I need to go over and meet him." I explained. "So you're getting me a car for my birthday right? You know the accident wasn't my fault. There was an animal in the road."

"We'll talk about it later." She declared.

I then headed to the boarding house and began to look for Stefan. I walked through one of the rooms and found Damon without a shirt on.

"Howdy." He greeted me. He seemed to be very drunk.

"You look…worse than I ever I have." I replied.

"I was expecting you to say dashing or perhaps irresistible." He stated.

"Damon, will you please stop creeping on me?" I requested. "It's kind of disgusting. If you want to be friends, that's fine, but I don't want anything more."

"Can you help me put this on?" He asked, seemingly struggling with his shirt.

"So I found out about my mother today." I told him as I began to button the buttons.

"Ugh, who cares." He replied as I scowled. "She abandoned you. Fuck her."

That was actually a good point. Why did I care so much about this woman who abandoned me, especially since she was dead?

"Hello, Stefan." I stated as I noticed my boyfriend in the doorway.

"Hey, why don't you go wait downstairs? I have something that I need to talk to Damon about." He suggested. I pouted but did so. I really wanted to tell him that Jenna was right about Alaric's wife being my mother. It was very important and I would probably have to ride with Damon because it was so cold and neither of us had a car. Why didn't he have a car?

So I had to wait until we got to the Grill. Caroline wanted me to help her since Elena had bailed. She was with Matt.

"He's been hit on like 5 times. He's total cougar bait." Caroline giggled.

"It's not funny, Care." Matt chided her with a blush. It was kind of funny. Then all of a sudden, a blast from the past showed up, Matt's mother Kelly Donovan. She immediately recognized me and gave me a hug.

"It's so good to see Little Mary Gilbert all grown up." She stated. "Where's Elena? Matty says she broke his little heart."

"Mom!" He replied in embarrassment.

"Just kidding." Kelly responded. "He found his rebound girl."

"Elena plays for the other team now." I stated. I didn't want to mention the thing with Vicki because it was upsetting thing to talk about for me. Also, that wasn't a nice thing to say to Caroline.

So when the auction started, I couldn't help but notice that Damon was up there with Alaric and two other guys, one who was a plumber. So it was basically three losers, Alaric, and an asshole.

Mrs. Lockwood was emceeing the event. I wasn't quite sure why they couldn't have gotten a single woman to do it. Maybe it was because she was a much better public speaker than Sheriff Forbes, but still seeing a married woman fawn over a bunch of men was creepy.

It didn't take long for things to go bad at the auction. When it came Damon's turn to speak, he confessed to killing Alaric's wife, my mother in front of everyone. He was cryptic about it but also obvious. I couldn't believe it. I ran outside in shock. Stefan ended up following me.

"Damon killed my mother." I replied. It was a statement, not a question. "Damon killed my mother."

"He didn't know that she was your mother." Stefan pointed out.

"Why are you defending him?" I questioned. Admittedly I wasn't even sure if I had the right to be angry, but I was anyway.

"Because this was too years and believe it or not, Damon has changed since then." He told me before I noticed that same man that was outside of Trudie's house down the street. What was he doing here?

"That man, I saw him outside of Trudie's house earlier today." I explained.

"Let's get inside." Stefan suggested. As soon as I got in, I noticed Damon. Since I was extra-angry I went over and slapped him.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Did I forget to mention that the name of my birth mother was Isobel Saltzman?" I asked him. He looked shocked. "Do you want to rub it in how you killed her to me too?"

I then went back outside with Stefan and saw the mysterious man yet again. It was like he was waiting for me.

"Hey you!" I called to him. "What do you want from me?"

"I have a message for you." He stated. Before I could respond and ask who the message was from, he continued talking. "Stop looking. She doesn't want to know you."

"Isobel?" I asked in surprise. Damon hadn't killed her. He had turned her into a vampire.

"Do you understand?" He asked.

"Did Isobel send you?" I questioned.

"Mary, he's been compelled." Stefan explained. That would explain a lot.

"Do you understand?" He repeated.

"Yes." I replied. I was still in shock about what had just transpired.

"Good." The man said. "I'm done now."

He then stepped into the street and was promptly flattened by a car. I also noticed one thing on the ground and that there was a cellphone. I quickly grabbed it before Stefan took me home. I had just stolen evidence from a crime scene, but I needed to know.

After I was changed for bed, I spent a good portion of the night staring at the phone. I was very hesitant to use it. For all I knew, I was completely off base and perhaps Katherine had sent that guy. I also wasn't really looking for Isobel. I just wanted to know more about her and why she abandoned me.

I finally decided to push the redial button and waited for someone to pick up. I was extremely nervous and knew it was a bad idea, but I was making all sorts of spur of the moment decisions today.

"Was there a problem with the mission?" She asked me. She had a Virginia accent. It was definitely her. I decided that it would be not to say anything at all.

Before I could go to bed, I heard a knock at the door. I put my robe on and went to get it. I saw Damon.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I wanted to apologize." He stated. "I'm not sorry for turning Isobel into a vampire, but I'm sorry because I didn't know. I'm also sorry for hitting on you earlier. You know I'm gonna find Katherine."

"That's great Damon, but I really want to go to bed." I replied. "I accept your apology."

So the chapter ends on a sweet moment between Mary and Damon. Despite this, Damon and Mary will NEVER become a couple. She'll grow into more of a sisterly role with him. There will be a love triangle, but that won't come about until later. Please don't forget to review.


	16. Make Me Double Date

Several more days had passed and it was Friday. I had found out from Stefan that Alaric tried to kill Damon, but Damon killed him instead only for the teacher/my stepfather to be brought back by some magic resurrection ring.

I went to school dressed in a white sweater dress with a black-beaded hem and matching nails along with white wedge heels. I stood by Stefan at my locker. There were a lot a things that I wasn't happy about right now but nothing that I felt that I needed to hit the bottle for. I really haven't had a drink since we opened the tomb and I wanted some.

"So have you thought about her?" Stefan asked me.

"About Isobel, my vampire birth mother who was turned by your vampire brother who is looking for your vampire ex, not at all?" I answered sarcastically.

"I'm sorry about all of this." He apologized.

"I told you that you don't have to apologize anymore." I reminded. "I wanted to be a part of this, but it would be nice if I could get through a day where the only vampires that I come across are you and Anna, not even Damon, even if we might be friends now."

"Well I'm happy to be one of the people that you want in your life right now." He replied as he gave me a kiss.

"I have to get to class." I stated. "It's too bad I vowed to go to every class this semester, because there are a lot of good places around here that we can make out/have sex."

"You've got to make all As semester or there will be no more sex." He teased.

"Yeah, I don't think that you'll be able to live up to that." I teased him back before he walked off.

After class, I found out that Alaric needed to talk to me.

"So did you say that you spoke to Isobel?" He asked me.

"I called her, but I didn't say anything." I remarked. "Look I really don't care about Isobel anymore. She abandoned me when I was born and then abandoned you to become a vampire. She sounds like a bitch. I can give you the number, but I want to stay out of this. Though, there is the issue that I'm your wife's kid. We need to figure out what kind of relationship we're going to have."

"Well I know that I can't help you with your homework." He joked.

"I don't need any help with that." I replied with a grin. "See you round, Pop."

I realized how weird it sounded when I walked out. I was met by Anna in the hallway.

"So what did he want?" She questioned.

"He wanted my help in finding my mother, who I am no longer interested in." I explained. "Speaking of mothers, is there any chance that I can meet yours?"

"No." She declared bluntly. "But I might be able to get out of the house and maybe we could hang out. I never told you about how Elena and I kissed."

"That's great news." I agreed. "I'll see if I'm available tonight. I might do something with Stefan."

After school, Stefan found me at my locker. Before he could say anything, Caroline showed up.

"Hey, I was wondering if you two might want to go on a double date." She asked. "We could get dinner at the Grill and maybe see a late movie."

"I don't know. I've never been on a double date before." I declared. Come to think of it, I don't know if anything Stefan and I could be considered dates.

"I like the idea." Stefan replied. "It sounds fun."

"Okay, then it looks like we'll see you later." Caroline declared.

I then texted Anna to tell her that I was not free tonight. I still did want to have a sleepover with her, but it didn't seem likely at the moment.

When I got home, I decided that what I was wearing was going to be fine. We were going to the Grill, not the Cordon Bleu, which I'm not even sure is an actual restaurant. I just hoped that there wouldn't be any vampire problems on the date.

Stefan arrived at my house around 6:00. I saw him by the backdoor and let him in, only to be presented with a bouquet.

"You brought me flowers." I remarked. The only time I had ever gotten one before was when I was 11. It was from Tyler, before he became an asshole.

"Well it is a date and I thought we should do it right" He explained. "I would have driven too, but…"

"You know you would think someone who is older than the car would have one." I quipped.

"Oh, I have one. I just don't drive it." He stated.

"Why didn't you tell me that you had a car?" I asked angrily.

"We're going to be late." He remarked hastily.

"We are not done talking about this." I told him.

Once we got to the Grill, we got a table and met up with Matt and Caroline. We then found an awkward silence as everyone tried to figure out what to say.

"So Matt, what's working here like?" I questioned to break the ice.

"It's not bad." Matt answered. "The tips are pretty good. We can't seem to keep a bartender."

That was because Lexi compelled one to serve minors and Ben was a vampire that Stefan burned alive.

"I suggested my mom for the position." Matt added.

"That sounds like a very bad idea." I stated. "I know our families have been friends since before I was born, but your mom is kind of a wreck and giving free access to alcohol sounds like it could end badly."

We then heard the sounds of giggling and turned to see that Damon, Kelly, and Jenna were at the bar. Well there were the people that we wanted to get away from…and Jenna.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Matt groaned. I supposed that it could have been worse. I wasn't going to say how it could have been worse, but it definitely could have been.

After we were done with dinner, we headed to the pool table. At had to admit that even though the overall dining experience was bad, the food was good. I also couldn't help laugh when Stefan ordered his steak rare. That got me funny looks from Matt and Caroline and I had to make up some lame excuse. I actually just jokingly asked him if he was a vampire. Sometimes the truth could be the best lie.

We noticed that the "responsible adults" were still boozing it up at the bar.

"Well at least they're having fun." Caroline stated facetiously.

"They're drunk." I pointed out. I kind of wished that I was.

"So, Mary, did Elena ever tell you what happened after Homecoming last year?" Matt asked.

"I think so, but maybe you should tell Stefan." I proposed.

"Well we came here and we got really drunk." Matt explained. "Unfortunately, we didn't expect Elena's parents to be seated in the booth behind us. Elena had the bright idea to sneak away by pretending to choke, but since her father was a doctor, he jumped into action. Elena slipped on the floor and needed to get stitches and we weren't allowed to see each other for a week."

I kind of wished that I had some good drunken stories. All of my involved either being miserable or having sex.

By the end of the story, I could tell that Caroline did not seem to be very happy. She went to the bathroom and I followed because it was the best place for us to talk.

"So what is with the reminiscing to when he was dating Elena?" She asked.

"I was just trying to make conversation." I replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't have a lot in common with you guys and why does it matter anyway? Elena is gay. She's never going to want Matt back."

"Well maybe some of us are really insecure because we've never had a successful relationship." She stated.

"That's what this is about?" I asked in exasperation. "Caroline, Matt likes you. He really likes you. You don't have to worry about him leaving you for anyone."

We then went out back into the restaurant and I couldn't help but notice that a man with a beard was staring at me. I couldn't help but think that he was trouble. I still was bad at determining who was a vampire, but something told me that that guy was a vampire.

"So how's everything going?" I asked Matt and Stefan at the table.

"Matt is cheating." Stefan declared with a grin.

"No need, I'm just awesome." Matt rebutted as Caroline took her place at his side. I decided to take out my phone and show Stefan a message. He turned to look at the table, but he was gone. I decided to go over to Jenna, who was obviously too drunk to drive home. She gave me her car keys and I used them to drive to the boarding house.

"So are you sure that this guy was a vampire?" Stefan asked me.

"I'm pretty sure." I stated. "He just had this really creepy look to him. I know I'm bad at this, but I really think he was."

"Okay, let's send Matt and Caroline home and call it night." Stefan suggested. I didn't really like that idea.

"No, we need to be able to do stuff like this." I argued. "Let's just go inside."

"Whoa, this place is huge." Matt gushed looking around the room in awe.

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit much." Stefan quipped.

"My whole house could fit in this living room." The quarterback added.

"I feel like I've been here before." Caroline stated. I hoped that the compulsion wasn't wearing off. Maybe it was just a feeling of déjà vu.

"Whoa, look at this." Matt replied as he noticed some of Stefan's model cars that I hadn't ever noticed before. "I did the entire Mustang series when I was nice."

"You like cars?" Stefan asked him.

"That's an understatement." Matt declared.

"Come with me." He instructed as he led us to the garage, which I had also never been to. Inside was this really old red car, but it looked to be in perfect condition. It seemed to be Stefan's car.

"How did you get this?" Matt asked in disbelief. I would think that it would be feasible for someone as rich as Stefan to have any car he wants.

"It was just passed down through the family." Stefan lied. I really wanted to ride in it.

"Remember that old Camaro of your dad's, Mar?" Matt questioned as he looked it over.

"I don't really like sports cars." Caroline piped in. "They're hard to make out in."

"I've never had a problem with it." Matt declared. I hadn't ever tried. "Why don't you drive this?"

"Well it doesn't run." Stefan answered. I would also think that he would know how to fix a car.

"Why would you keep a car that doesn't run?" Caroline asked. It was a valid question.

"Can you be any more of a girl right now?" Matt replied. That was kind of sexist.

That basically led to the two of us going outside while the guys worked on the car. Caroline had a frown on her face.

"Care, there's nothing that I can do." I stated. "Yes, Matt has all of these memories from when he dated Elena, but that doesn't mean that you can't make memories of your own. If you don't want him to keep talking about it, just tell him."

At that point, the car pulled out of the garage and over to us. It was kind of annoying because the lights were on high.

"How about you two take it for a spin?" Stefan suggested. That would also give us some alone time to talk. We went inside of the house.

"You know I really want to make some memories with you." I told him. "I mean good memories: not how we killed a vampire or how we opened the tomb, but stuff like prom and whatnot. Oh, by the way, since you're a junior, you're taking me."

"We can have all of the nice memories that you want." He promised me.

They were gone for about 15 minutes. I couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be happier when they got back.

All was going good until we heard something break and went to investigate it and found that Damon was about to have sex with Kelly against the wall. Did he really have no sense of decency? Okay, maybe he did, but he needed more tact. Matt was pissed and she followed him, basically stranding Caroline. It was a good thing that I had a car for the night. She got in the front while I said goodnight to Stefan.

"I had a really great time tonight." I told him. "Though, next time I want it to be just me and you."

"I'll make sure of it." He said as he gave me a kiss. "Make sure to drive carefully."

I rolled my eyes before I walked over to the car and began to drive to Caroline's house.

"You know I should probably be driving." She told me.

"I'm a great driver." I argued. "Besides, someone has to get Jenna's car home. So did you have fun tonight?"

"Yeah, it was great until the end." She stated. "We actually had quite the moment while we were in Stefan's car, if you know what I mean."

"Please tell me that you didn't have sex in his car." I stated.

"No, you can't have sex in a sports car." She declared before we got to her house and she got out.

When I went home, I noticed that was in my room.

"We have a bit of a problem." She declared. "Elena kind of knows about me. I didn't tell her anything. I don't know how she found out about it."

"Well I need you not to mention anything about me." I declared. "As far as I know, you're just a nerdy Goth girl."

"There is another problem." She added. I had a feeling I wouldn't like that. "She asked me to turn her."

So Anna and Mary are definitely close and there was also a moment with Ric in this chapter. Please don't forget to review.


	17. Make Me A Hero

"What did you say?" I asked her.

"I told her no." Anna stated. "I'm not going to turn someone just because they ask me to. You can see how well turning Logan and Ben worked out for me."

Suddenly, there was a thunderclap and I jumped.

"I love storms." She stated.

"Is that some kind of vampire thing?" I questioned.

"Well it does mean that there is no sunlight." She replied. "So what about you? Have you ever hypothetically wanted to be a vampire?"

"Well the chance of being with Stefan forever does sound like it would be amazing." I explained. "But I don't think I'd want to actual be one. I'm not even 16 yet. I have my whole life ahead of me."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're wise beyond your years?" She asked me.

"Yes, my English did before the accident." I answered. Suddenly, my door opened and Anna rushed into the closet. I found that Elena was there.

"Hey, can you make sure that all of the windows are shut. It looks like a storm is coming in."

"Okay, I can do that." I replied, waiting for her to go away. I still didn't know how I could talk to Elena about vampires. She still didn't know that I knew. "You can come out now."

Anna came out of the closet and sat down on my bed.

"So are you staying the night?" I asked.

"I'll have to leave early in the morning, but I can stay the night." She stated as she began to take her clothes off. "I hope you don't mind sharing the bed with me."

"No, but I can give you something to wear if you want." I suggested.

"I like sleeping this way." She replied with a smile. "Good night Mary."

In the morning, I noticed that Anna was gone. I got a call from Stefan telling me that I needed to come to the boarding house. I wore a black t-shirt with a Christian band logo on it, a black jacket and black leather pants. The first thing that I noticed was that Damon was boarding up a broken window.

"What happened here?" I asked them.

"Are you going to tell her or should I?" Stefan asked his brother. Damon shrugged. "The vampires are out of the tomb. Two of them came here last night and tried to kill us."

"Anna didn't mention that." I remarked in surprise.

"I say we go over to Pearl's and annihilate the idiot that attacked us last night." Damon suggested. She also didn't mention that they were staying with her. Maybe that was why she wanted to sleep over.

"And what about the rest of the vampires?" Stefan challenged. "Do we just say 'Oops, sorry'?"

"Are you seriously working with her? What could you have in common?" I asked him.

"I didn't really have a choice. She's scary." Damon explained. "Plus she is going to help me get Katherine back, which is good."

"Of course Damon gets what he wants no matter who gets hurt." I quipped.

"I don't need bitchy from you right now." Damon snapped.

"It's cold and wet out and all of the vampires have escaped from the tomb." I argued. "I've earned bitchy."

"I thought you weren't mad at me anymore." He remarked.

"I'm not mad at you for turning my mom into a vampire." I replied. "I am mad that you tried to fuck my friend's mom. I guess I should just accept that you're a self-serving psychopath.""

"Ouch, well consider this psychopath' feelings hurt." He replied.

"Hey, this isn't being productive." Stefan mediated. "We'll figure something out."

Damon walked off and Stefan gave me a look.

"I'm sorry, but he really knows how to get under my skin." I declared.

"He gets under everyone's skin." Stefan replied before giving

"So what are we going to do about this?" I asked him

"I'm going to handle it and you are going to go home." He explained.

"I'm not going to let you do this alone." I replied.

"I'm not going to be alone. I'll have Damon, the…self-serving psychopath on my side. You don't need to worry about this, Mary." He told before he kissed my forehead.

When I got home, I decided to text Anna saying that we needed to talk about how she neglected to tell me things. Unfortunately, she told me that she was with Elena.

I decided to watch some TV, seeing if there were any good movies. I couldn't help but notice that Damon kept calling me. I was starting to regret giving him my number, though I did like having it so I could ignore him. I then heard the doorbell ring and opened it before he walked into the house. I shouldn't have invited him in.

"You're ignoring me." He commented.

"Have you been calling me? Sorry, my phone is broken." I quipped.

"Is Stefan here?" He asked seriously.

"No, why?" I questioned in confusion.

"He went out an hour and hasn't come back and he's not answering my calls." Damon explained. I decided to try to call him, but it went to voicemail.

"Straight to voicemail." I stated. "Where could he be?"

"I think I know and you're not going to like it." He declared.

It led to him driving me out to this cottage in the woods. I guess that was Anna's place. It looked nice. Damon told me to wait in the car, which I did not like.

After a few minutes, I noticed Damon came back alone. I grabbed an umbrella and went over to talk to him.

"What happened? Where is he?" I questioned.

"He's inside." Damon declared. "I can't get in."

"Why not?" I questioned.

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled not to let me in." He answered. That was a good idea.

"Let me call Anna. I'm sure that she can get her to let you in." I responded as I took out my phone.

"It doesn't work like that." Damon answered. "Plus, I don't want help from that bitch or her mother."

"Well what are we going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know." He responded.

"We have to do something." I remarked.

"Mary, I know." He declared as he grabbed my face. "I just don't know how to get him out of there."

"I have an idea." I declared.

From there we went to the school. I needed to pay my stepfather a visit. Things did not get off to a smooth start. I found the two of them fighting in the hallway like children.

"Come on, guys, knock it off." I declared. "Alaric, we need your help"

We went to his classroom and gave him a brief summary of the situation.

"They have him in the house. Damon can't get in because he's a vampire." I declared. "I would go but he won't let me."

"That's because her life is valuable." Damon replied. I didn't need him to say that.

"Stefan told me about your ring." I added.

"What about it?" He asked, looking at his hand.

"Let me recap for you." Damon declared. "You tried to kill me. I did kill you. You are no longer dead. Am I missing any parts?"

"Yeah, the part where I try to kill you again only this time, I'm successful." Alaric replied.

"Come on, please, we're family." I begged.

"I'm sorry, Mary, but that's not going to work on me." He declared.

"Okay, I didn't have to do this, but you owe me." I pointed out. "I gave you the number to contact Isobel even though I think you calling her would be a mistake. Please help us."

That seemed to work because it got him to take all of his weapons out.

"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon commented.

"I have you to thank for that." He responded.

"So when you get me in, I need you to get out as fast as you can." Damon stated.

"That's your plan?" I asked as I grabbed one of the vervain dart things.

"What are you doing?" Damon questioned as he took the dart from me.

"I'm going with you guys." I declared adamantly. '

"No, you're not." Damon argued.

"I have to say that I'm with him on this one." Alaric agreed. Why was everyone against me on this?

"You have to let me in. I can create a diversion." I replied. I also was good at sneak attacks.

"Do you know how easily you can have your neck snapped?" Damon asked. He snapped his finger. "That fast. I understand that you want to save him, but I love him too and I'm better at it than you."

"You can't just expect me to wait here." I remarked as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Okay, fine you can drive my car." He replied. I sighed.

We went back to the house and I sat in the car. Alaric was going to pretend to be a stranded motorist and ask to use the phone. Damon was going to wait outside. It didn't take me long to get bored. I had no idea how long it was supposed to take, but I really didn't want to wait. I decided that I would take actions into my own hands and grabbed a stake and one of the darts from out of the bag and stored the two of them in my coats pockets.

I found an entrance to the basement. I did make sure to text Anna to let her know about what happened. I wasn't sure if she would be able to get here in time, but I at least wanted to let her know. I went downstairs and noticed a guard. I hoped that I was going in the right direction.

I decided to charge at him and staked him in the heart.

"You are officially insane." Damon told me as he grabbed me as led me to one of the rooms. It happened to be the one that Stefan was in. He was hanging from the ceiling shirtless with multiple cuts, but the first thing that I noticed was that he was shirtless. He looked good.

"Mary, you shouldn't be here." Stefan told me weakly.

"We know." Damon stated as he noticed a vampire that had two stakes in his legs. He prepared to plunge a stake into his chest.

"No." Stefan remarked. "Not him."

"Whatever." Damon replied as he went for the ropes.

"Vervain on the ropes." Stefan said.

"Well what do you know? It looks like you do serve a purpose after all." Damon remarked. I rolled my eyes and went over to untie the ropes. I had to put my hands on his bare chest, even if it wasn't the time for that.

"Come on, we need to go." Damon replied, snapping me from my trance. Before we left, Stefan removed the stakes from the vampire. I wasn't sure why, but he saw reason to. All I knew was that I needed to get him out to the car. His shirt seemed to be missing, which I was still okay with. I took him to the car and grabbed the keys. It was then that I realized that we had a real problem. There was nowhere to put the keys because the starter was missing.

"Stefan, we have a problem." I declared. I got him out of the car and realized that we needed to run for it. We didn't get very far before Frederick came after us. He seemed to be more interested in Stefan than I was which was good because it gave me a chance to stab him with the vervain needle. I wished that I had kept the stake.

I went over to Stefan and noticed that he seemed to be in a lot of pain. I wasn't quite sure what to do. I then noticed that Frederick was getting up. I had to think of something. I noticed a cut on my hand and stuck it inside of his mouth because I knew that human blood would heal him.

Frederick then came over and grabbed me, but Stefan sprang up and attacked him. Revitalized, he grabbed a stick and began to stab Frederick with it in the heart…repeatedly. He really wanted to make him pay. I noticed that Frederick's skin was starting to turn grey like Vicki's had. He was definitely dead, but Stefan was still going. I went over to him and tried to pull his arm away.

"Stefan, he's dead." I told him. He looked and growled as I noticed that his eyes were a bright red. I was pretty sure that I had made a mistake by giving him some blood. I probably had a chance to kill Frederick myself, but I was too concerned about Stefan. At that point, Anna rushed over to me.

"Are you alright?" She asked me as she noticed Frederick's dead body. "You need to get out of here."

I decided to listen and we headed back to the boarding house. Stefan was going to push the car while I steered. I couldn't help but wonder how or when Damon was going to be able to get that fixed.

I went inside of Stefan's room after he was shower and dressed. I knew that we needed to talk about what had happened.

"I'm sorry that you had to see me like that." He stated as he dried himself off.

"You were really scary like the vampires in the movies." I declared. "Is that what happens when you drink human blood?"

"Yes." He replied. "You know what you did today was really stupid. You could have died. It was too big of a risk."

"Stefan, when someone saves your life, you're supposed to say thank you." I remarked before I began to cry. "I'm so glad that you're alright."

Before he could say anything, my phone rang. It was Elena.

"Hello? What? I'll be right over." I declared before I hung up. I then turned to Stefan. "I need a ride to Matt's house."

"What happened?" He asked in concern.

"They found Vicki's body." I explained.

He took me there and I noticed that everyone was crying, even Tyler, who I was honestly a little surprised was there. I gave him a hug.

After we were done, Elena and I headed home.

"Are you going to be okay?" I asked my sister.

"I want to get some sleep." She declared before she headed upstairs.

When I headed to bed myself, I happened to find Anna in my room again.

"My mom is really sorry about what happened." She replied. "I also want to tell you that Elena doesn't want to be a vampire anymore. She wanted to be with Vicki."

"So what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Well I kind of need some comfort and I don't want to be at home right now." She replied. "Can I stay over again?"

Please don't forget to review.


	18. Make Me Party

The morning was kind of crazy. I had to find an easy way to get Anna get dressed and outside without Jenna or Elena knowing that she was here. She needed to wear some of my clothes because she didn't want to wear dirty clothes. I was beginning why she kept sleeping over considering it was the fourth night in a row. It didn't leave a lot of time to get ready myself.

"Come on, Mary, we need to go now or I'm leaving without you." Elena called up the stairs. I grabbed my bag and headed down the stairs to see my uncle John. I think I was the only member of the family who tolerated him.

"Uncle John, it's good to see you." I told him as I gave him a hug.

"Now, Mary." Elena repeated. I did think that she was handling Vicki's death surprisingly well.

"Okay, I gotta go." I replied.

Once I got to school, I found that Stefan wasn't there. He told me that he had been having a few issues as he tried to get back on animal blood. I would give him some time. I did want to talk to Matt to see how he was doing.

"So what's going on?" He asked me.

"My uncle John is in town." I explained.

"Wasn't that guy a bigger dick than me?" Tyler asked as he appeared.

"I don't understand why everyone hates him so much." I replied before Tyler walked off. "So is Caroline still baking for you."

"She finally went to her dad's." Matt declared. She had been heading that way when she found Vicki's body. "My mom was probably going to strangle her if she brought over another casserole. So I wanted to thank you for the help with the funeral."

"Vicki was my friend." I replied. I had had time to let the fact that she nearly killed me go.

At lunch, I decided that it was the time to talk to Anna.

"So are you and your mom not getting along right now?" I asked her.

"We got into a fight a little while ago. She keeps treating me like a child." Anna complained.

"Anna, I don't think you can keep sleeping over at my house." I told her bluntly. "My aunt is going to start to noticing pretty soon and Elena might as well which will get very uncomfortable."

"How is Stefan?" She asked me.

"I don't know. I haven't really seen him." I declared.

That night at home, I was in my room with Stefan while everyone had dinner downstairs. It was the first time that I had seen him in a few days.

"So I have a feeling that Elena may be getting closer to uncovering this vampire stuff, but we never talk anymore. I still haven't even told her that I'm adopted. Everything that I'm hearing about her, I'm basically hearing from Anna, who has basically taken up residency in my room because of problems at home."

"Well maybe you should just try to talk to her." He suggested. "You don't have to go into any of the big stuff, but you could tell her about what's been going lately."

We were off school tomorrow because it was the first day of the Founder's Celebration. There was also going to be a party at night.

"You know I've missed you." I told him. "I've really missed you. I have missed fucking you."

"Well how about we get down to it?" He suggested. I smiled and began to take his shirt off before all of a sudden, veins appeared under his eyes and he shot himself back into the wall. Something was seriously wrong.

In the morning, I knew that I was have to do something that I really didn't want to do. I called Damon to come over.

"Thanks for coming." I told him as I started to pull him upstairs because Elena was having breakfast.

"No, Mary, I will not come up to your bedroom with you." He yelled. Why did he like embarrassing me so much? I pulled him into my room with a scowl on my face. He noticed the knocked over shelf. "What happened over there?"

"Nothing." I lied. He glared at me.

"Did you know that your uncle has been kicking it up with the Founder's Council?" He asked.

"Perfect, what else can go wrong?" I questioned.

"So why did you call me here?" He asked as he grabbed the stuffed bat off of my bed. I took it from him. It was a little ironic considering who had been in my bed.

"Do you know how long this thing with Stefan is going to go on?" I questioned.

"A few days, give or take." He told me as he began to look through my closet.

"Damon, grow up." I told him as I shut the door. "It's been a few days."

"Give then." He remarked in annoyance. "What's the problem?"

"He's not acting like himself." I pointed out.

"Well maybe if he spent less time trying not to be himself, he wouldn't be like this." Damon opined. "There is nothing wrong with him drinking human blood."

"Stefan is not you." I pointed out.

"He doesn't want to be me, but that if you think that he's not, you haven't been paying attention." Damon declared. "The longer he keeps fighting his nature, the more problems there will be."

"I'm done talking with you." I stated. "It's time for you to go."

After he was gone, I decided to go down the hall to Elena's room where she was studying.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked her.

"Nothing." She answered.

"Do you want to talk?" I questioned.

"Sure." She responded. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't want to talk about it here. It's a beautiful day. Let's go somewhere." I explained.

We ended up going to lake. It was the same place that Mom and Dad, which was why I wanted to say it there.

"So why are we here?" I questioned.

"I'm adopted." I remarked. "I don't know who my father is, but my mother was named Isobel and she was married to Mr. Saltzman."

"I can't believe that Mom and Dad never told you." She replied in disbelief.

"I'm sure that they probably planned doing it, but they ran out of time." I declared.

"Who else knows about this?" She asked me.

"You're kind of the last person that I've told." I stated. "It's because you are the hardest person for me to say it to."

"Why do you say that?" She inquired.

"Because it's weird going through your whole life thinking that you're related to someone then finding out that you're not." I pointed out.

"Are you upset that we're not related?" She asked me seriously. ]

"No, of course not." I replied. "I don't care what the DNA tests say. You are my sister Elena. You will always be my sister."

"So can we talk about how you're still friends with Anna?" She questioned.

"Elena, I'm not going to stop being friends with her just because she broke up with you." I explained. "So did you ever get to experience her quirky side?"

"I know that she is obsessed with vampires." She stated, like she didn't want to tell me. "Come to think of it, it makes a lot sense that you two would be friends."

"Shut up." I told her as I playfully shoved her. She shoved me back and I decided that it was a good time to stop because the water was still cold and we didn't need to get wet.

That night, we were heading to the annual Founder's Day Kickoff Party. It was basically an excuse for the town's wealthy families to get all dressed up and drunk, which I was perfectly fine with. I liked getting drunk. I was wearing a sleeveless silver dress.

I had gone to the party with Jenna, and John, and Elena. I looked around the room and saw everyone with fancy suits and dresses like me. I wanted to go find Stefan and I also couldn't help but wonder if Anna had decided to show up. It was a public place, so she wouldn't have to be invited in, not that they wouldn't invite her in because they couldn't spot a vampire if Dracula himself came to the party.

I began to look around and I couldn't help but notice that Stefan had a glass in his hand and a certain smell on his breath.

"It looks like someone came to party." I commented. "Now we just need to succeed in getting me some."

"I'd be happy to do that." He declared.

"So why are you drinking anyway? You're supposed to be the straight-laced one." I asked.

"I know it's strange, but it helps with the cravings. It will be better soon. I promise." He declared. I supposed that I could give him the benefit of the doubt. If he couldn't get me alcohol, I was positive that Tyler would be able to do it. I wasn't entirely sure how he continuously managed to procure alcohol, but I wasn't one to complain.

He went to the bar and compelled the bartender to give me something. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but I knew that it was alcoholic and that was all that mattered. Once I had finished, he pulled me over to the dancefloor. I wanted to dance, but no one else was doing it and the music also sucked.

"We need to dance." Stefan stated.

"We can't dance to this." I pointed out.

"We'll just have to get it changed." Stefan proposed as he walked over to the DJ.

"Yeah, that's not going to work." Kelly replied as she walked up behind me. "I already tried to bribe him with 20 bucks and a blowjob, but he said that Mrs. Lockwood has left strict directions for the music."

"Stefan can be very persuasive." I declared as I watched him compel the DJ as well. The music then began to pick up and he came up and grabbed Kelly's arm and began to dance with her. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him move, but I was jealous that he was not dancing with me.

A few minutes later, I was found by someone. It seemed that she was here. She was wearing a sexy red dress.

"You look like you need someone to dance with." She remarked as she grabbed me and started to move with me.

After a little bit of dancing and another drink, I did find myself in Stefan's arms. He spun me and I had to admit that I was having a blast. I couldn't believe that I was having so much fun at a Founder's Party.

The only problem was that he ended up spinning me into a guy.

"Sorry, I'm a little drunk." I apologized before I giggled.

"Then get off the dancefloor." He replied.

"How about you get off of it, Asshole!" I shouted at him. At that point, Stefan stepped in, probably to prevent me from attacking him.

"That's no way to treat a lady." He remarked.

"Whatever." The douchebag replied as he turned to leave.

"I think you need to apologize." Stefan said before he grabbed and compelled him.

"I'm sorry." He droned.

I then realized that Stefan was beginning to get out of control. I once again would have to talk to Damon about it. I wasted no time in going to find him.

"We really need to talk about your brother." I said.

"I don't have time to worry about my sibling, but I do know that yours is digging her head where it doesn't belong when it comes to Vicki." He told me.

"But Elena knows it was an overdose." I pointed out.

"She's the only one not willing to accept that." Damon remarked. "She's asking the sheriff who buried her. I know: me!"

"I'll talk to her." I promised.

I went to find my sister to try to get her to stop saying stuff about Vicki. She was supposed to move on. She was alone by the fireplace.

"You're not at the party." I declared as I sat next to her.

"I just feel like everyone is to write off Vicki's death as an overdose just because she was a drug addict." Elena replied.

"What do you think happened?" I asked nervously.

"I think someone killed her and then they buried her." She responded.

"Elena, what happened, she's gone." I pointed out.

"Whatever happened? Does that mean that you don't think that it was an overdose?" She inquired.

"I think that it was an overdose." I replied.

"Is there something that you're not telling me?" She asked.

"No, I'm not gonna lie to you anymore." I lied. Yes, I knew the irony of that.

She then walked away and Anna walked into the room. I was trying my best not to freak out.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything is falling apart. Stefan is out of his control with his power and Elena keeps asking about Vicki. I don't want her to know that I had Damon erase her memories of Vicki being a vampire and trying to kill us.

"Mary, it's going to be okay." Anna assured me as she rubbed my shoulders. "I won't tell Elena."

I decided that it would be best just to leave the party. I hated how everything was going and I couldn't enjoy my buzz. I had Anna drive me home and I grabbed another drink for the road.

When I got to my room, I couldn't help but notice that Stefan was there. He looked like he was in really bad shape.

"Stefan?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

"No." He replied. "I tried so hard tonight to keep it together and it was working until Matt's mom cut her head open. And then that guy came back in the parking lot and all I could think about was how I was going to kill him. I was only able to stop at the last minute."

"Stefan, it's going to be okay." I assured him. Maybe it was because I was drunk, but I believed in him. I gave him a tight hug. "You are going to be okay."

"I love you so much." He told me tearfully.

"I love you too." I told him.

Later in the night, I decided to go to Elena's room to see how she was doing.

"Are you still upset?" I asked her.

"No." She answered. "I'm just really tired. I need to sleep."

I decided that sleep would be a good thing for me. Anna wasn't in my bed for once and I was soon out like a light.

So in case you're wondering, Elena was eavesdropping on Mary and Anna's conservation, but you might have figured that out. Next chapter features Mary in the pageant. Please don't forget to review.


	19. Make Me A Queen

I was in the parking lot at school when Stefan drove up in his car. He had actually driven in his car.

"Nice car." I told him.

"I figured it was too nice to leave in the garage." He explained before he gave me an open-mouthed kiss.

"So are you better now?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm all better." He confirmed.

"Well I have to get to class, but I'll see you at lunch." I told him before I walked off. I couldn't help but admit that being kissed like that before school had made me feel all bubbly inside.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Anna asked me later in History.

"Stefan's back in school." I explained. At that point Alaric walked into the room.

"Okay, so in light of Founder's Day, we will be studying local history." He announced. "Apparently the town's leaders think that is more important than World War II, but hey what do I know?"

I did really like how he managed to install some humor into his lessons. There were definitely worse people to have as a stepfather, like in that movie, _The Stepfather_. That guy was a total murderous psychopath, worse than Damon.

After school, Anna was preparing to give me a ride home when Caroline came up to me.

"Mary, Mary, Mary." She said to me in excitement to get my attention. "Did you hear the news?"

"No…" I responded, wondering what she could be talking about.

"The Founder's Court was announced this morning and you and I are on it." She explained.

"The Founder's Court?" Anna asked.

"It's for Miss Mystic Falls." Caroline told her. She probably knew that, but she had to act like she was from out of town. "It's huge. I have to find Bonnie so she can help me pick out a dress."

She then ran off and Anna smiled at me.

"I think everyone, including me would prefer it if Stefan was my date." I cracked.

"You're so funny." She quipped. "You better have fun at this thing."

"A day where I'm in formalwear while everyone stares at me? How can I not have fun at that?" I replied.

When I got home, I decided to call Stefan about it. I hoped that he would be okay with it.

"I'm sorry this is on such short notice. I never believed that I would even get in when I signed up." I explained.

"This doesn't seem like something that you would have signed up for." He pointed out.

"It was my mom's idea. She had both me and Elena sign up." I explained. "She was really big into this stuff. She actually won the pageant when she was my age."

"Well I would glad to be your date." He told me.

"Technically, the term is escort, which makes it sound like I'm paying you." I declared. "I'll see you soon."

I knew that I needed to find a dress. I really wished that they gave us more time to plan for this. It made sense why they only picked girls from Founding Families because they were the only ones that afford to get an expensive dress in two days.

"Hey, Elena do you wanna take me dress shopping?" I called up to her room.

"No." She responded as I frowned. That meant that I would have to wait until Jenna got done with class. I hoped that all of the good ones wouldn't be picked over by then. I really wished that I had a car. My birthday was still over a month away and I was getting impatient.

The next day, I was going to meet with the Mystic Falls board which was Mrs. Lockwood and two other women. One of them would've been my mom if not for the accident.

"This year's queen will have the special honor of representing the town at the 150th anniversary celebration." Mrs. Lockwood explained. "Before we crown our winner, we'd like to get to know a bit more about each of you."

"To be honest, I don't know why you picked me." I admitted. "I'm definitely not the right girl for this, but my mom would want me here, so I have to give it my best."

After the interview process was over, I finally got the chance to look over the other girls. There was Caroline, Tina Fell, the wild child with a heart of gold. She seriously was one of the nicest girls in the school and the only other one my age. There was her cousin Blair who somehow got nominated again despite winning last year's pageant and Amber Bradley, who was not from a Founding Family. I seriously couldn't believe that they didn't give Elena the other spot instead of wasting it on and outsider. That was probably why she was mad at me.

Anyway, we had partners come in and we had to rehearse this stupid dance from the 1800s. I couldn't believe that something like this actually existed.

"This dance sucks." I whispered to Stefan.

"You're just saying that because you don't know how to do it." He pointed out.

"I'm sorry that I'm not old enough to have been around when it was invented." I quipped before he grabbed me and dipped me.

"Stefan, there's no touching in this part." Mrs. Lockwood scolded him. "It's all about the thrill of the near-touch."

"If you ask me the near-touch is overrated." He whispered once she was gone. I giggled at that.

During the break, I couldn't help but notice that Caroline had brought Bonnie with her. I didn't know that she was back and I realized that I needed to talk to her.

"Hey Bonnie, do you have a minute?" I asked her.

"We only have five minutes." She pointed out.

"Please, I really need to talk to you." I insisted. It seemed to work because it got her to go into the halfway with me. I wasn't sure what to say.

"So I haven't really seen you since your grandma died." I explained. "How was everything where you went."

"Boring." She answered. "Listen, Mary, I don't think it's a good idea for us to be friends. My Grams is dead because of you. You're the one who wanted to open the tomb."

"She had a choice and she chose to open it." I pointed out.

"Still every time I look at you or Stefan or Damon, that's all I'm going to see." She told me.

"When did you become such a bitch?" I asked her. "Do you really think blaming me is going to make it better? I could have blamed Elena for my parents' death but in the end, it was all a choice. The bridge would have given out eventually anyway, and if it wasn't my parents, someone else would have died."

When I got home, I was mad. I had to text with Anna to vent my frustration because her mom wouldn't let me see her. It wasn't good but it would have to do. I also noticed that Elena was back to not speaking to me. Was she mad about the thing at the Founder's Party or something?

On the day of the pageant, I heard a knock at the door. I had my dress in a bag in my hands and opened it to reveal my only known human relative. I mean Isobel's parents were probably alive, but I didn't know them. He took my bag from me.

"Hi." I greeted him.

"Have you talked to Stefan lately?" He asked. "He seems like he's a little bit on edge."

Before I could respond, John walked into the room. I liked him less since I found out that he was a vampire hater.

"Hey, Alaric." He greeted the teacher. "What are you doing here, Buddy?

"I'm the chauffeur." Alaric answered.

"Huh, I thought I was driving." John declared.

"No need." Jenna said as she came down the stairs. "You can take Elena if you want."

So I rode to the Lockwood house. When I got there, I saw that Anna had been invited in. Like I said, they were completely unable to detect a vampire. I also had to admit that she looked beautiful in her black dress with her hair up. I knew that Elena had definitely made a mistake by messing their relationship up. She was talking with Damon for some reason.

"No offense, Jenna, but I think I'd rather get ready with Anna if you don't mind." I told my aunt.

I then grabbed Anna and took her upstairs with me. I gave her a curling iron and let her work on my hair, since she had obviously had success with her own.

"So what were you and Damon talking about?" I asked her.

"John wants this item that my mom stole from your ancestor." She told me. "No one knows what it is or what it does but he wants it and Damon wants it so John can't have it."

"So has anyone told you how pretty you look today?" I questioned.

"You're going to be even prettier when I'm done with you." She replied

Once she was done, my hair was curled with the majority of it swept over my right shoulder.

"So I need to go put my dress on." I told her. "I don't really need your help with that."

I went to the dressing room and found that Amber was there. She didn't look so hot.

"Hey, Amber are you okay?" I asked. Those were the first words I ever said to her.

"I don't want to do this." She said. "I hate being the center of attention. I get really bad panic attacks."

"Do you want to be alone?" I asked her.

"No, I just need some air." She replied before she left the room. I wasted no time in putting on my dress. It was gray covered in black dandelions with sleeves covered in black lace. Not even three seconds after I had it on did Damon walk into the room.

"You can't be in here." I told him, still glad that his timing was good.

"We need to talk about Stefan." He replied. I realized that it was important. "He's still drinking human blood."

"What?" I asked in disbelief.

"Normally, I would rejoice at this, but his timing could not be any worse right now." Damon explained. "The council is up our throats and his actions are causing problems for everyone now."

"I know that he's been a little on edge recently but he said that was normal." I declared.

"He's Stefan on human blood. He'll say anything or do anything as long as he doesn't have to stop." Damon pointed out. "I'm really worried."

At that point, Stefan walked in.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" He asked.

"I was just telling Mary about your extracurricular activities." Damon replied. I didn't know why he had to be so cryptic about it.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan responded.

"I know that you're drinking human blood, Stefan." I declared.

"I'm just gonna go." Damon said as he crept out the door, leaving us alone.

"I was gonna tell you." Stefan told me.

"When?" I asked.

"It doesn't change anything. So I'm drinking human blood. It doesn't make me any different. I'm still the same person." He rambled.

"It's changing you." I replied.

"Mary, I was going to tell but your reaction is making it completely justified that I didn't." He tried to explain.

"Do you even hear what you're saying right now?" I questioned.

Before he could respond, the door opened again. I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't locked it. It was Mrs. Lockwood.

"Mary, the lineup is starting." She stated. "Escorts wait downstairs, Stefan."

I headed out into the hallway and to the top of the stairs where the other girls were, except for Amber who seemed to be mysteriously absent. I really wished that my parents could be here to see this.

"Do you see Stefan down there?" I asked Caroline.

"Nope, just my boring fill-in escort." Caroline explained.

"What happened to Matt?" I questioned.

"He couldn't get off work." She answered. Who would go to the Grill today? "What happened to Stefan?"

"I don't know." I replied. "I'm not going to have an escort. What the hell am I going to do?"

"Mary, you need to calm down." Caroline told me. "Someone will be there for you."

"Miss Caroline Forbes and her escort Jeffrey Lockwood-Hamilton." Mayor Lockwood said before she went down the stairs. I had no idea how he and Tyler were related.

"Mary, you're next." Mrs. Lockwood instructed.

"Miss Margaret Gilbert, and her escort, Stefan Salvatore." He called. I began to descend the stairs and saw that Amber's escort was there, but Stefan still wasn't. I noticed that the mayor pushed his son toward the floor and I was met by him.

"Please tell me that you know the dance." I whispered to him in embarrassment. I also couldn't help but be worried about Stefan.

"My mom made me practice in case some girl asked me." He explained.

Tyler and I danced together to the music, which was oddly some alternative song. I couldn't help but wonder who had chosen it. I was grateful not to be alone.

I didn't end up winning. That happened to be Caroline, who honestly seemed kind of shocked. I just knew that I needed to find Stefan. I went to Damon and we began to look together.

We found him trying to feed from Amber. It made sense that their disappearances were linked. Damon tried to fight him, but he was a lot stronger. Then Bonnie showed up and cast some sort of spell, giving Stefan a migraine or something. He then bolted from the scene.

I decided that I needed to go to the boarding house to see if I could get Stefan to talk to me once again. Before I got there, I found Anna at the door…with Pearl.

"I mean you no harm." The woman stated. "My daughter says that you are her friend. She wants to stay here with you. I want to stay here. So, I'm giving you this. I hope you give it to Damon."

"What is it?" I asked as I looked over the round object.

"I have no idea." She explained. "I thought I was stealing his vampire-detecting device, but I was wrong."

I then walked into the house and put the thing on the table before heading into Stefan's room.

"You shouldn't be here." He told me.

"But I am here." I pointed out.

"You know I could hurt you." He stated. "You're pretty stupid being here."

"Well then loves made me this way." I told him. "I love you, Stefan and all I want to do is make you better."

"Get out of here, now." He replied before he pushed me into a wall and bit my neck. I then I had to do it. I stabbed him with the needle and he passed out. He really was out of control. It meant that Damon and I would have to fix him. Together we took him to the cellar and locked him up.

"Can I have some of your bourbon?" I asked him.

"Not without me." Damon replied.

So it was Tyler that Mary danced with instead of Damon. Does that mean that they could possibly have a rekindling in their future? She also got to meet Pearl. Please don't forget to review.


	20. Make Me Save Your Life

When I walked into the cell with Damon, I couldn't help but notice that Stefan was tripping out. He hadn't had anything to eat in a days and he also called me Katherine. I decided that it would probably be best to leave him alone. I then went to get dressed, putting on a simple outfit consisting of a white tee, black leather jacket and grey jeans. I then went downstairs and began to prepare for school. Damon was there.

"Has he eaten yet?" I questioned.

"No." He answered. "You know this stuff will pass. He feels guilty over hurting that girl and for biting you. He'll be fine."

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked.

"It'll just be best to let it pass." Damon replied as she fiddled with the thing that Pearl gave me.

"Did you ever find out what that does?" I responded.

"No, but it doesn't work." He pointed out. "Have you talked to your uncle lately?"

"I've been avoiding him and I've also been here most nights." I explained.

"So does that mean that you're going to be here again tonight?" He inquired.

"Yes, and there is nothing that you can do about it." I snapped.

"There's plenty I could do about. I just choose not to." He pointed out. "Have fun at school."

I knew that school would not be fun. School would definitely not be fun. For starters, Stefan wouldn't be there and I just didn't like school in general.

"So did I tell you that Elena and I are back together?" Anna questioned me in the parking lot.

"No, and Elena hasn't either because she won't talk to me." I explained.

"What are you two even fighting about?" She asked.

"That's the thing. I don't even know." I responded. "I don't know what I did to make her so angry."

"She'll probably get over it." Anna reasoned. "How's Stefan."

"He's not good." I pointed out. "I don't know what to do."

"Well I wish that I could help, but I really can't. I wanted to spend the day with Elena." She responded.

"You should. She's your girlfriend." I told her. "I'll be fine doing this on my own."

After school, I needed to head home and pick up a few things. It was becoming increasingly difficult to sleep without my bat, so if I was staying over, I needed to bring him with me. I also needed to get some more clothes. I decided to call Damon to see if Stefan had made any progress.

"What?" He answered.

"I was just calling to check up." I replied.

"I am fine, thank you." He quipped.

"I wanted to check up on Stefan." I corrected.

"He's still the same, ever so broody." The vampire told me. "He hasn't eaten yet."

"There has to be something that I can do to get him to eat." I responded. "Does he have a favorite?"

"What are you talking about?" He questioned. I had a feeling that he knew and was just teasing me.

"You know a favorite kind of animal blood." I asked awkwardly.

"Ew, gross." He commented. I was pretty sure that he was using humor to get through a tough time like many people.

"Would it kill you to be serious?" I asked.

"Just hurry on over. I have things to do." He replied.

"I would say drop dead but…" I declared.

"Stefan likes puppy blood, the really cute ones." He remarked before I just hung up. I closed the closet door and there was John. I jumped at the sight of him in surprise.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"It's okay. I was just leaving." I responded as I regained composure.

"I was hoping that we could talk for a minute." He stated.

"It'll have to be another time." I told him as I began to walk away.

"What would your mother say if she found out that you were dating a vampire?" He asked, causing me to stop in my tracks and turn around.

"Which mother?" I questioned before I resumed my exit.

When I got to the house, I noticed Damon, but didn't acknowledge him because I went straight down to the basement because I wanted to see Stefan. I looked through the door and saw him looking down as I noticed a bottle of blood on the floor, which I assumed was from an animal.

"You need to drink that." I told him.

"I don't want to." I heard him mutter.

"Stefan, this isn't about what you want. You can't survive without blood." I pointed out.

"I don't wanna survive." He told me. At that moment, I felt like someone had punched me in the heart. I went upstairs with a frown on my face where Damon was packing some stuff up. I decided to tell him what Stefan had said.

"Why would he say that?" I asked him.

"I told you he feels guilty." Damon reiterated.

"He sounded serious." I pointed out.

"It's typical Stefan martyr stuff." He explained.

"So where are you going?" I questioned.

"I have an errand to run with your stepfather. Don't wait up for me." He replied.

I decided that I was going to go down once more. I was going to force him to drink the blood if I had to. I was definitely not going to let him just give up on his life like he wanted to.

I went to the door where he was still in the same position as before. I was annoyed that he hadn't moved at all.

"Why haven't you drank the blood yet?" I asked him in frustration.

"I told you." He replied. "Go away, Mary."

"No." I responded as I opened the door and walked in.

"What are you doing?" He asked me. I got him to show some emotion. "Get out of here."

"No." I responded as I grabbed the bottle. "Drink the blood."

"You don't know how stupid of an idea it is for you to be in here. I could hurt you." He explained.

"Do you think I'm scared of you, Stefan?" I asked him. "What are you going to do, bite me again? That wouldn't be very smart for someone who is trying to avoid blood at all costs. Now you are going to drink this if I have to force it down your throat!"

He knocked the bottle out of my hands and then looked away from me. It was at that point that I could see the hurt in his eyes. I think I needed to give him some words of encouragement.

"Stefan, I'm fine. Amber is fine." I pointed out. "Damon erased her memory so she doesn't even remember you attacking her. "No one knows anything and you're going to be fine."

At that moment, I took his ring out of my pocket.

"Stefan, will you please just tell me what's wrong? This isn't like you and I think this goes back to more than just you what happened the other night. I know that I'm not a therapist but I want to know what's making you like this."

He then proceeded to tell me about what happened when he first turned. Like Damon said, the two of them were shot trying to rescue Katherine. They had had her blood in their systems and woke up in the quarry with Emily. They had decided that they weren't going to transition because they thought that she was dead. He had gone to visit his father to say goodbye to him where he found out that Giuseppe was the one that killed them. He then tried to kill him again, despite the fact that Stefan told him that he wasn't a vampire. Stefan pushed him away, inadvertently impaling him with his cane in the process. He then drank his father's blood, becoming the vampire that was today.

"How can you even look at me right now?" He asked with tears in his eyes.

"Because it was accident, Stefan." I pointed out. "You didn't mean to kill him. Come up stairs and we can talk about it some more and anything else."

"I did mean to kill most if not all of the others." He explained. I guess that fact that he had killed people didn't surprise me. It probably took him a long time to get to where he was when he met me.

"We can talk about those too." I declared. "All I want is for you to feel like I'm someone that you can talk to. I've talked to you about all of my problems and I just want you to feel that I'm someone that you love enough to tell me stuff."

"How can you be so sure that I'll get better?" He asked with a confused look on his face.

"Because I love you Stefan and I know that you'll get better." I explained. I put his ring over by the bench beside him. "And when you're ready to talk to me, I'll be upstairs."

I walked out of the cell, leaving the door open so he could come and meet me. I definitely felt like we had made some progress. It was at that moment that I decided to call Anna.

"What are you doing right now?" I questioned.

"I was heading home. Elena's asleep right now." She replied. "Do you want me to come over?"

"No, I think I can handle it." I responded. "I also think that I've made some progress. I got Stefan to open up to me about some things that are plaguing him."

"Well I think that you just have to keep working at it." She suggested. "Stefan has a lot of demons, but if you try hard enough, I think that you can break through. I have to go. See you later."

I decided at that point that I wanted to watch a movie. I decided to put on _RV. _It had JoJo in it, even if she was playing an environmentalist. It also had Robin Williams, who was one of the funniest people ever. I had a feeling that if I showed it to Stefan that I would even be able to get him to laugh. I decided that after we were done talking about his issues that we would watch the movie together because it would be good to see him laugh.

An hour later, Damon showed up.

"Ugh, you're still here?" He remarked.

"Were you expecting anything else?" I replied.

"It was more of a statement than a question." He pointed out. "How's Mr. Broody?"

"I think he's getting closer." I answered proudly. "How did the errand go?"

"It was a total bust, but I think that I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis." Damon replied. "Has he eaten yet?"

"Let me check." I responded as I went back downstairs. "Stefan? Stefan?"

I went into the cell, only to find that he wasn't in it and he wasn't wearing his ring either. I began to panic as I tried to think where he could possibly be, except I didn't have a fucking clue.

"DAMON!" I shouted as I ran upstairs.

"What?" He asked.

"He's gone and he doesn't have his ring with him." I explained as I breathed heavily. "He'll die when the sun comes up."

"Fine, let him if that's what he wants to do." The vampire replied.

"No, don't do that!" I shouted. "Stop trying to pretend that you don't care. Are you mad that Stefan killed your father? You can't possibly want him to die for that."

"How much of the story did Stefan tell you?" He asked.

"He told me enough." I answered.

"I doubt that." He replied. "Did he tell you how I turned? How I was ready to die and then he came back a vampire, having broken the vow that we had made. Then to make things worse, he told me that he wanted me to turn. I said no, but he didn't give me a choice."

"Oh my god, that's why he feels so guilty." I realized. "Damon if you have any idea where he is, could you please take me there?"

"Sorry, I don't really want to go out anymore tonight." He answered.

"Then tell me where he is and give me your keys so I can go there!" I replied.

"Check the quarry." He suggested as he gave me the keys. "If anything happens to my car, I will kill you."

I drove there quickly, even though I knew I had a while until the sun came up. I found him seemingly hallucinating again. He also looked dizzy. He really needed to get some blood in him.

"Stefan." I told him as I got him to look at me. "Damon told me that you would be here. He told me the rest of the story."

"I should have died that night, Mary." He stated.

"You can't change that, Stefan." I responded. "I know that you have made some mistakes, but it's all in the past."

"Everyone that has died at mine of Damon's hands since that night is my fault. How can you expect me to live with that?"

"By accepting that there are some things that you can't change." I answered. He looked at me in shock. "When I look at you, do you want to know what I see? I don't a blood-thirsty monster that has killed scores of people, but a guy that jumped into the lake to save the family whose car had gone off the bridge. I see the guy that took a chance to get the know that would rather have a drink than talk about her feelings. I see the guy that got that girl to love herself and most importantly, I see the guy that I love."

"It hurts me, Mary." He stated. "It hurts to keep fighting."

"Just because it hurts doesn't mean you should stop." I argued. "I'll help you fight and I'll be there if you stumble again. Just put this ring and come with me."

He then gave me a kiss and I put the ring on his finger. Everything was good at it felt good to be good.

We headed back to the boarding house where I noticed that Damon was still up.

"I'll leave you two to talk things out." I stated before I headed up to his bedroom. I had saved him once more, but he was the one who saved me first.

So Mary saved Stefan just like you knew that she would. Next chapter is the debut of this story's version of Isobel. Please don't forget to review.


	21. Make Me An Offer

When I woke up, I found out that I wasn't the only person in my bed. Stefan had told me that he would be fine and I should go home. Currently, I had to deal with the issue in front of me.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "You were already asleep and I didn't want to wake you."

"What are you doing here?" I asked her. It was at that point that I noticed the tears and gave her a hug.

"My mom…" She started, but she couldn't get out the rest. I was able to fill in the rest even though she hadn't said it.

"It's going to be okay." I assured her. "How about you go take a shower and then come back in here? Jenna is gone right now."

I decided to call Stefan to see how he was doing.

"Stefan's phone." Damon answered. "He can't talk because he's in the shower. What are you up to today?

"I'm getting ready because Caroline says that I need to help with the Miss Mystic Falls float." I told him. "Well how is everything going?"

"I'm great. I just had a nice warm breakfast." He explained before I rolled my eyes.

"I meant about Stefan." I corrected.

"Oh, him, he's terrible." He stated as I felt my concern grow.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"You made him all boring again." He replied as I breathed a loud sigh of relief. "Now he has nothing interesting about him."

"You helped." I pointed out.

"I hate myself for it." He responded.

"Now we have something in common." I quipped before I hung up and Anna walked back in the room a towel. "So I need to get going soon."

"I think I want to stay inside and grieve right now." She explained. "Could you not tell anyone that I'm here?"

"Well make yourself at home, but not too at home. If you make a mess, clean it up." I told her. "What do you want me to tell Elena if I see her?"

"Tell her you haven't seen me." She instructed. "I can't face her right now."

"I'm really bad at lying." I pointed out before I went out the door.

I went to school and met up with Stefan but before I could go over to where Caroline was, I was pulled away by Alaric. He took us to his classroom.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Your mother showed up last night." He explained. "She wants to see and is threatening to start killing people if she doesn't. Someone call Damon."

It took about fifteen minutes for Damon to get there.

"Sorry I'm late. Dog ate my…" He started before he noticed our serious faces. "What's going on?"

"Isobel's back." Alaric explained.

"You know your mother and his wife, Isobel?" Damon asked.

"Do you know any others?" I responded in annoyance.

"Did you ask her about Uncle John?" Damon asked.

"No." Alaric replied.

"Are they working together?" Damon questioned.

"No." Ric replied.

"No, they're not, or no, you didn't ask?" Damon responded.

"I didn't ask." He clarified.

"What about the invention?" Damon inquired.

"Didn't ask." Alaric said.

"Does she know about the tomb vampires?" Damon asked.

"I don't know." Alaric replied.

"Did words complete escape you?" Damon questioned in frustration.

"I'm sorry. I was a bit too distracted by my dead vampire wife to ask any questions." Ric told us in annoyance.

"Well what does she want?" Damon replied.

"She wants to see me." I answered.

"You know you don't have to see her if you don't want to." He stated. It normally would have been sweat.

"I kind of do." I declared.

"She's threatened to go on a killing spree." Stefan added.

"Oh…I'm guessing that's not okay with you guys." Damon stated.

"I want to do this." I announced. "I at least want to know why she abandoned me."

"Okay, I'll call her." Alaric stated.

That led to me going to the Grill. I sat at a table alone while Stefan stood nearby.

"Can you hear me now?" I asked like I was the Verizon guy in a low voice. He nodded. "Good. I'm really glad that you're here. It makes it easier."

"I love you." He mouthed. I smiled before a woman with blonde hair wearing all black sat in front of me.

"Hello, Mary." She greeted me. "You know I feel like I'm looking in a mirror."

"Yes I am your daughter." I told her bitterly. "The one that you abandoned."

"Is that supposed to make me feel bad?" She asked.

"Why did you tell that man to kill himself telling me to stop looking?" I replied.

"Drama impact. Wish it had been more effective." She stated.

"I did stop looking." I answered. "I haven't thought about you at all since I heard that you abandoned your husband to become a vampire. Now how about we get to the good stuff? Who is my father?"

"He was a teenage waste of space." She replied.

"What's his name?" I questioned.

"Has anyone told you that you ask a lot of questions?" She responded. "You seem to think that I'm going to answer them."

"Why won't you?" I challenged. "Don't you care that your daughter wants to know about her family?"

"I don't care about anything." She explained. "That's the beauty of being what I am. You don't care about stuff."

"No, that's wrong." I refuted. "I know other vampires."

"You mean like your boyfriend over there?" She asked as I noticed Stefan flinch. "Stefan Salvatore. Why do go for Stefan instead of Damon?"

"I'm 15." I reminded her. I wasn't even sure if she knew how old I was.

"None of that is going to matter when you're a vampire." She stated. "That's right, I said when. Because one of two things is going to happen. Either you're going to become a vampire, or you're going to die. I'm sure that you've thought about it. What girl doesn't want to be young and beautiful forever?"

"What do you want?" I finally asked her.

"I want what your uncle wants." She told me. "Give me Jonathan Gilbert's invention."

"I don't even have it." I declared. "I don't know where it is."

"I know for a fact that it was given to Damon. So you have to get it from him." She replied. "If you don't, well then the blood will be on your hands."

She got up and then Stefan looked at me, but at the moment, I just really wanted to go home. I went up to my room by myself and found that Anna was still there. Once I was inside, I immediately started to punch my pillow repeatedly.

"Whoa." The vampire remarked. "Do you wanna talk about why you're so angry?"

"My mom's a bitch." I declared. "I thought that maybe by meeting, I would realize that she wasn't as bad as I thought she was, but it turns out that she's even worse. It makes me wish that I had never met her…and I am so sorry. All of this talking about my mother can't be doing anything to console the fact that you don't have one anymore."

"Hey, from what it sounds like, you don't have one either." She told me. "You just have a person that you happen to be related to."

"You know I'm building the float tomorrow. I'd really like it if you came with me." I told her.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that I'm ready for the outside world yet." She declared. I frowned, but she was still doing better with grief than I ever did. I couldn't help but wonder if it had to do with the fact that she had already lost Pearl once. I did really enjoy the warmth of her body when she hugged me. That was definitely one thing that I was glad that _Twilight_ was wrong about. Who would want to cuddle with someone really cold…not that I would cuddle with Anna.

In the morning, I got dressed in a black and white patterned dress. It probably wasn't the best thing to wear for manual labor, but I didn't really care. I wanted to wear what I wanted to wear.

I headed to the school, ready to work. However, before I could get to any of that, I was pulled away again, this time by Bonnie.

"What do you want?" I asked. "The last time that we talked, you made it pretty clear that you hate me."

"I don't hate you and maybe I was a little harsh, but I had something important that I need to tell you." She stated.

"I don't really want to talk right now." I admitted as I walked out. What could I say? I was in a bad mood. I began to walk around and look for the float, which I think was going to be based on _Gone With the Wind, _because that was a very Caroline thing. I never saw what was so great about a three and a half hour movie about a girl who gets dumped.

However, before I could get to her, Isobel appeared in front of me.

"Can't you go and be a bitch somewhere else?" I asked her.

"I told you what I want and you're running out of time to give it to me." She remarked. "You know I've been doing some studying lately. It turns out that you have quite a few friends and acquaintances. We've got Bonnie, the witch, I'm staying away from her, but there's also the sad older sister Elena, the douchebag ex, Tyler, Caroline, the chatterbox that told me everything even though she had no idea who I was. She just kept yapping. And finally Matt, the golden boy who is also Yappy's future ex. Did I do good?"

"I still have no idea why you're here." I declared.

"Well you see, I have some friends too." She explained. "See that man is the cowboy hat. His name is Frank and he's very handy. He's noticed that that float Golden Boy is working on has a damaged axle. All that you need to do is apply a little bit of pressure and…"

At that point, Frank jumped on the float and it collapsed on top of Matt's arm. He screamed in pain as I looked over Isobel. Luckily, a group of guys headed by Tyler and Stefan managed to lift it off of him.

"By the way, if you're interested in seeing your sister again, you'll give me the invention." She added. I looked to where Elena had been and she was gone. The whole thing with Matt had been nothing but a diversion and I couldn't believe that I had fallen for it.

I then decided to see Bonnie to see if she could help. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Okay, so what I found out was that Jonathan Gilbert never successfully invented anything." Bonnie explained. "Emily had been secretly spelling the items. Here's the compass, ring, and this: the mystery device."

"That's it, well part of it." I confirmed.

"Are you sure that Isobel wants this?" Bonnie asked as she looked over the picture.

"Yes, why, what does it say?" I questioned.

"This is a weapon against vampires." Bonnie remarked.

"Well that's going to make it hard to convince Damon to give to us." I declared.

I knew at that point that I needed to call someone and it wasn't going to be Damon.

"I don't want to come out, Mary." Anna replied.

"Well I found a reason that you should." I declared. "Elena's been kidnapped by my crazy birth mother. Meet me at the boarding house in 15 minutes."

She was there and we managed to convince Damon that Bonnie could deactivate the device and Bonnie even did it there. That led us to the area where Isobel told us to meet which happened to be the very public town square. It really wasn't that public considering that it was nighttime.

"So glad that you could meet me." Isobel stated. "Now where is the device?"

"Where is my sister?" I responded.

"This isn't a goddamn negotiation. Where is the device?" She repeated.

"Where the hell is my sister?" I challenged, not showing any fear.

"Do you think I came alone?" She asked as Frank and some slutty girl came out.

"Do you think I came alone?" I mimicked as Stefan and Damon appeared.

"For god sakes, call home." She replied. I called the house to find out that Elena was there.

"Did you ever plan on hurting her?" I asked.

"Yes, I planned on killing her." Isobel replied. "I still can, so you better have the invention. Don't look for anyone redeeming qualities, in me Mary, because all you'll find is that I do not have any."

I then put the device into her hands, even though it would actually be a good opportunity to kill her. She was already dead to the world.

"Here, take it and I really wanted to thank you for this moment." I declared.

"Why is that?" She asked me with a look of confusion on her face.

"Because thanks to you, I'm happy that I had a mother that cared about me." I told her. "Thanks for being such a fucking disappointment."

I then went to the boarding house to meet with Anna.

"Well, where's Elena?" She asked me.

"Isobel let her go." I explained. "You know, I think it's time that you told her that you're okay. If you love her, you should let her know."

Speaking of love, I decided to head to Stefan's room. I really wanted to make love to him. I knew that the timing wasn't the best, but it really wasn't ever the best and we hadn't had a lot of changes to have sex lately. He was too busy with all of his blood issues.

"So it's been so long since we've done this." I said after we were naked under the covers. "I love you."

"You know I'm sorry that Isobel turned out to be a colossal bitch." He stated. "I wanted you to be happy."

"I am happy." I declared. "I'm with you. So anyway, Caroline is doing this _Gone With the Wind _thing for Founder's Day. I need your help finding a dress that's era appropriate."

"I can help you with that." He promised.

Please don't forget to review.


	22. Make Me A Belle

I woke up earlier than usual. Part of Caroline's float idea meant squeezing into a rather tight dress. I kind of wished that I had a chance to get some input in about how bad of an idea it was, but I was too busy with my mama drama. I was really struggling with the corset because I couldn't reach it.

"Need some help?" Anna asked me as she began to tie it for me. "I remember when I wore my first corset. It wasn't until after the war because my mom didn't let me wear them. They probably didn't hurt me as much."

"You know I never said that I was sorry for what happened." I declared.

"You don't need to be sorry. You didn't kill my mother. Your uncle did." She pointed out. "There we go, all better."

"Still, I want to talk to Jenna about letting you stay here full-time." I offered.

"I'd rather not let him know that I'm here." She explained. "If you can manage to get rid of him, I'll let you tell her. So I can't believe that Bonnie dispelled the device. Actually I don't believe it. I think I may stay clear of the festivities today."

"Well I personally think that you could use some fun, but okay." I responded. "You know Stefan will probably let you stay at the boarding house if you want to avoid John."

"I'll think about it." She replied. "Just be safe out there."

"I'll see you when I get back." I promised. "Now I have to figure out how to get this skirt in the car."

"I don't think it's going to fit." She told me with a laugh. "I am pretty sure that is why hoop skirts fell out of favor, well that and women's lib. Give my regards to the Salvatores."

I figured that I would have to walk to the school. I hoped that I wouldn't trip over it again the way. My hair was pinned up in an elegant style that I wasn't exactly sure was era-appropriate or not.

Once I got to the school, I happened to notice Stefan and Damon were there. Damon was dressed as himself and Stefan as a Southern gentleman. I smiled and curtsied to them.

After a minute, Damon walked away and I couldn't help but notice that Stefan was staring at me. It was making me uncomfortable.

"Stefan?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "It's just seeing you like this reminds me of someone. You look exactly like Jonathan Gilbert's. I only saw her a few times because she was already married, and it didn't come across my mind until right now."

"That's wild." I admitted.

"Speaking of Jonathan's daughter, Damon thinks that your uncle is your father." He added.

"John is my father?" I asked in disbelief.

"I wanted to tell you so Damon couldn't spring it on you at an inopportune time." Stefan told me. Damon did like to do things like that.

"I appreciate you telling me, but I really hope that it isn't true." I admitted. "How can I be related to someone who hates vampires so much?"

"Beliefs are not genetic." Stefan pointed out. "We should get ready for the parade."

The two of headed onto the float. Amber wasn't going to be there. I was going to be between the two Fells with Caroline in the center on a higher platform.

"You know you look really beautiful." Tina told me.

"Thanks, you too." I responded with a smile.

The parade itself wasn't very exciting. Standing on a float and waving to people wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Once it was over, I changed into something much more comfortable: a sleeveless purple dress with fake gemstones on it and black tights and Mary-Janes. I decided to leave my hair the same way because it was too much hassle.

"So, Mary, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." Tina told me inside the Grill.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"There are vampires in Mystic Falls." She whispered.

"I'm sorry, but did you say vampires?" I asked, trying my best to put up a fake laugh.

"I know it sounds crazy, but on the night of the pageant, Amber was bitten on the neck by something." She explained. "Plus she lost a considerable amount of blood. It was just like what happened with Vicki Donovan and Mr. Tanner."

"I think that conspiracy theories are kind of crazy." I told her.

"I'm going to prove it to you." She stated as she walked off. I then found Damon at my side.

"No." I told him. "You are not going to kill her."

"I was actually going to suggest compelling her to make her forget." He replied.

"Well, we're not doing that either." I stated. "For all we know, she knows about vervain and trying to do so would give her proof."

"Why do always have to deny me of my fun?" He asked.

"Because you need a conscience and if I have to do it, I will." I explained before I noticed my sister sitting at a table. I needed to find out why she was mad at me. "We need to talk."

"I don't really want to talk." She replied.

"Elena, you've been mad at me for the past few weeks and I don't even what I did." I explained.

"You know I know that feeling." She replied. "It's almost as if my memory was erased."

"Elena…I had a good reason for doing that." I stuttered.

"Well I'd like to hear it." She responded as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You were falling apart. You were in a complete despair. I tried to talk to you about it, but you were too busy crying." I explained. "I didn't know what else to do."

"You could have waited for me stop." She suggested.

"Elena, did you even want to know that your girlfriend trying to kill you?" I asked her. "And I didn't know if you were going to stop. I was scared I was going to have to put you on suicide watch."

"I wouldn't do that." She pointed out.

"You can say that now, but you don't know how you felt back then." I declared. "Seeing you like that was scarier than any vampire. I know you're mad at me, but if the roles were reversed, what would you have done?"

"I don't know what I would have done." She admitted. "Do you know where Anna is? I keep looking for her, but I haven't seen her."

"She's not coming." I explained. "Elena, I want to know that you and Anna have my blessing. She's my best friend and you're my sister and I want both of you to be happy. So do you forgive me?"

"I don't know." She replied as she walked away. Well that was a step up from no.

I then decided that it would be a good idea to find Stefan, and that I also wanted to get some food. There was plenty of free food, so I didn't have to pay to get anyone from the Grill.

While I was looking for Stefan, I couldn't help but notice that my phone was ringing and that it was Anna.

"Hello?" I questioned.

"We have a serious problem." She told me. "I decided to get out of the house, and infiltrate this meeting of the tomb vampires. I promise you that I only did it to spy on them. Anyway, I found out that they're planning an attack on the Founding Families tonight."

"Where are you right now?" I asked her.

"I went back to the house." She explained. "I still don't trust your uncle with that device."

"It would be a lot more helpful if you were here." I pointed out. "I'll make sure to tell Stefan and Damon about it."

"Please be careful." She instructed. I would have a lot easier time doing that if she was here. I would also have to find a way to keep Elena. I realized that the best way to start would be to tell the person with the most ability to kill vampires.

I found him outside. Luckily, Jenna wasn't with him. That would definitely make things a lot easier. I still wasn't entirely sure how I was going to tell him.

"So there are going to be a lot of vampires here tonight." I told him. I decided to go to the direct approach. He looked pretty shocked. "Do you have any weapons?"

"I have some in my car." He stated.

"Get as many as you can." I instructed. "We are going to need him."

"How do you know this information?" Damon asked me as he sped over.

"Because I'm good friends with the vampire who infiltrated their ranks." I explained.

"Where is she in all of this?" He asked me. I hated having to explain that instead of taking out the vampires.

"She doesn't trust John." I explained. "We need to worry less about where she is and more about the killer vampires that are here now. Ric is getting some weapons. Help me find Stefan."

I was trying my best not to freak out. There could not have been a worse time for them to attack. We could definitely use the weapon against the vampires, but we deactivated mostly to protect Stefan and Damon. It was a bit of a conundrum. Maybe Bonnie would be able to fix it or help. I needed to find her too.

I found Stefan first. He tried to kiss me, but now was definitely not the time for it.

"I can't really do that right now." I explained. "So remember the rest of the tomb vampires? Well they're kind of attacking here tonight and they want to kill the Founding Families. We need to find a way to stop them."

"Do you know when this attack is supposed to happen?" He questioned.

"No, but I was wondering if you could possibly identify them so we can stop them before the attack happens." I replied. "Why do they have to hold a grudge against people who don't even know them?"

"Because it's all they were able to think about for 145 years." He explained as I noticed that the mayor was starting to give a speech. He signaled for the fireworks to go off and I watched as they exploded in the air before suddenly, Stefan fell to the ground in pain.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"I don't know." He replied as he covered his ears in pain. It seemed to be a frequency too low for humans to hear. I noticed a deputy was walking toward us. I wondered if I could take him. Luckily, before I had to figure out if I could do that, Alaric came over and got him away.

It seemed to go on for only a short amount of time. I looked at my phone and found that only five minutes had passed.

"What just happened?" I questioned.

"I don't know. It's like a million needles were piercing my skull." Stefan explained.

"I saw like five people go down." Alaric explained. "There were taking them to your dad's old building."

"No, no, no, it can't be." I replied. "We saw Bonnie deactivate the device. How could it have worked?"

"Maybe she didn't." Alaric replied.

"He's right. We asked her to deactivate a weapon that could protect people from vampires." Stefan stated. That made sense, but it was still wrong.

"To protect you and Damon." I pointed out.

"Vampires." Stefan declared. "We need to find Damon."

Before that could happen, my phone rang yet again and it was Anna again.

"I don't really have time to talk right now." I answered.

"Well it feels like I just had a seizure." She explained. "I had epilepsy before I was turned. I think John managed to use the device."

"We know that he did and right now, I have to find Damon." I declared before hanging up.

We decided that the best place to go was to the building that seemed to be on fire. John was standing in front of it.

"Where's Damon?" I asked him.

"Where he should be: with the rest of them." John answered. "It's over for Damon."

"He's crazy." I stated.

"Why because I'm doing what this town's founders wanted to do?" He challenged.

"Is there another entrance?" Stefan asked me.

"There's a utility door on the side." I explained as he ran toward it and I started to follow him, but John stopped me. "What kind of father are you?"

"You know…" He replied in shock.

"Now I do." I corrected before I took the opportunity to run by him. I went to the door and found Bonnie was standing by it. "Bonnie, what are you doing?"

"I couldn't deactivate the device." She told me as I went to grab the doorknob. "If you go in there, you're going to die."

"I'm not going to let Stefan and Damon die." I pointed out. She then grabbed my hand and began to chant. I was confused, but about a minute later, Stefan came out of the building with Damon in tow. That was right before a blast came out and we all had to duck for cover.

I went back to the Grill with Stefan as I began to look for Elena. We found her in the bathroom looking scared.

"Elena, it's okay. Everything's okay." I assured her.

"This man attacked me before he suddenly went down in pain." She explained.

"He's dead now." I assured her as I gave her a hug. "Now do you see that I only wanted to protect you from this?"

"I want to go home." Elena replied.

"I'll have Alaric take you." I told her since she hadn't driven. "I'll be there after I find my dress."

I went to the school and began to look for it, only to find that it wasn't there. I checked multiple times and it was missing. Why would someone steal a 1860s dress? I sighed and began to walk home. It was at that time that I noticed a text from Tyler saying that Caroline was in the hospital. I really hoped that she was okay. I knew I would head down there after I went home.

I went to the door and opened it, before walking in. At that moment, I heard a crash.

** End of Season 1.**

So Anna managed to be saved by not going to festival at all. Also Mary is a doppelganger of sorts. How does that work? The next story will be called Some Nights and it is coming soon. Thank you for reading and please don't forget to review.


End file.
